


You Can't Fight a Tidal Wave

by madradena



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M, Inspired by Music, Psychological Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-25 02:53:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 47
Words: 123,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13824969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madradena/pseuds/madradena
Summary: Dr. Crusher convinces Data to take the main role in a new play she has found, called Dreamland. The other main role goes to Beverly's old friend, Emma, who proves to be a challenging personality. Meanwhile, Data has to overcome the turmoil his abduction by the Borg and their Queen left in his mind. Some humour, more romance and drama - no space battles and technobabble. The story is followed by a sequel called 'Blind Chess'.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: None of TNG and Dreamland or any of their characters are mine and I do not make money on writing this story.
> 
> Dreamland is a CD by Brent Spiner and Maude Maggart telling a love-story in the form of a musical/radio drama. Wherever you see text in Italics, that'll be the story of Dreamland.
> 
> Set shortly after StarTrek - First Contact

Doctor Beverly Crusher stood excited in transporter room three, where her old Starfleet Academy roommate, Doctor Emma Jones was supposed to arrive in about a second. It had been quite a while since they met, though they kept in contact throughout the years. They corresponded regularly, in the last two years, when they exchanged only three subspace messages - Emma seemed to disappear for a reason she never really explained.

Emma's last assignment was on Epsilon Four, a colony in a far away corner of the quadrant. It declared independence not long after Emma was assigned there. The government soon turned Epsilon into a cult of the 21st century, when - as it was stated in the propaganda - no alien contamination influenced the purity of the human race yet. As Epsilon was independent, the Federation had no authority over it anymore.

Emma was assigned there to help settle the colonists over a decade ago. When a year later, the colony broke away from the Federation, she opted to stay, and Beverly knew, it was largely because of a very handsome colonist called Ed Jones. Emma married him a short time after their meeting, even though that the love affair was rather a stormy one. Beverly warned Emma that she was rushing into the relationship, but she didn't listen. She never listened... Now, Beverly suspected that Emma's wish in changing her location after such a long time had something to do with the relationship or the problems thereof, but Emma kept her reasons quite vague in her messages.

Beverly knew better than to ask in simple subspace messages, but she was sure that something ground shaking must have happened, if Emma decided to ask for a reassignment after all these years. Though it was not her custom to use her connections, in this case, Beverly did pull some strings and managed to get Emma assigned to the Enterprise. She knew that her once roommate in addition to her medical degree, had immense experience with unorthodox medicine as well living in a world, which only had 21st century technology. Having a grandmother who used to live in a colony where resources were not of abundance made Beverly aware of the usefulness of such experiences. Nonetheless, Emma holding a rank of Lieutenant for over ten years meant she did not pose as an attractive transfer, especially not to the flagship. Beverly knew Emma was almost completely forgotten, just as the colony she had lived on, so she was prepared to make this right for her friend.

"At your convenience, Doctor!" the transporter chief told her, when he got the sign from Station 505 that they were prepared to beam Emma aboard.

"Energize!" smiled Beverly, and in a moment, her long time no see friend appeared in front of her.

"Beverly!" exclaimed the newcomer and literally jumped off the transporter pad to embrace her friend.

Beverly held her close: "Emma!"

They laughed as they let each other go, and saw that they both had tears in their eyes.

"Oh, God! How long has it been?" Beverly mused as she wiped her eyes quickly.

"I really don't want to start calculating it! It would turn out that we are century old spinsters!" chuckled Emma.

"I missed you, Em!" Beverly told her chuckling lovingly.

"And I you, Bev!" Emma quickly turned to pick up her travel case then put her arm around her friend's shoulder "Come on, sweetie, show me around this luxury cruiser!" she said as they walked out "You sure I will not get space sick on it?"

"Only if you go cruising on a holo-ship on the holodeck!" answered Beverly as she returned the friendly gesture and put her arm around her friend.

Beverly helped Emma settle in and after a brief tour of the Enterprise, they ended up in Ten Forward for a drink.

"So, out with it, dear!" began Beverly "I would like to know all the details that you didn't want to share in your messages. What makes you leave the colony you helped build after a decade?" she did not want to ask the direct question: what made you leave your husband.

Emma exhaled a long breath as she leaned back in her chair, her drink still in her hand, she seemed to study the intricate patterns of the glass closely. "Well... after you helping me get here, I suppose I owe you an explanation - uh and yes, by the way I owe you a lot more than a simple explanation for that matter..." Beverly could see that whatever Emma might have meant by that was more than gratitude for a simple reassignment, but she didn't really understand what she might have been implying, so rather waited for her friend to continue. After a moment, Emma did continue "Well, you know far too well that my marriage with Ed has always been a stormy one." she looked up at Beverly as if for confirmation.

Beverly nodded "Yes, madly, passionately in love in one moment, throwing tricorders at each other's heads the next. Well, as long as there were tricorders on the colony... But yes, I remember. I was not so sure it was ever a good idea to get married under such terms, but..."

Emma shrugged slightly cutting in "You told me so. I know." she said with a wry smile. She sighed again "It took me a few years to realize that you were absolutely, a hundred percent, totally and completely right. And let's just say, I cannot think of an attributive to use to express just how much right you had been."

"I would gladly say, I'm happy to hear that but somehow I feel it would just leave a sour taste in my mouth." Beverly remarked returning the smile.

"That may as well be your Gin Tonic, sweetie!" Emma replied with a chuckle, which somehow turned into a grunt.

Beverly took Emma's hand gently in hers "Alright. I stop interrogating you. Take your time. You are here. Believe me, we will have some fun, when we can find the time with all the work we have. But that may occupy your mind as well."

Emma gave a slight squeeze of her hand in gratitude before releasing it: "I hope so!" then smiled a real smile this time and leaned closer to Beverly putting her elbows on the table "So tell me! Are you still running that holo-theatre of yours?"

Beverly smiled delighted "Oh, absolutely! We just finished our latest play with a very successful last performance."

"This was the Woody Allan play?" Emma asked remembering Beverly's last message.

"Yes, called Don't Drink the Water. We managed to put on thirteen performances! On a starship with a thousand on board that is a huge number!"

"How many people fit into your playhouse?"

"Well, about thirty fits into the holodeck in a way that we still have space to play of course, and use the holographical surroundings for the settings. There were people coming to see the play multiple times." Bev declared proudly.

"Sounds great! I would be thrilled to watch it!"

"Unfortunately, you missed that opportunity. The last performance was just over a week ago. We wanted to stop, while we were on the top. Now, I am looking for a new play! A musical this time!"

"A musical!" hissed Emma thrilled, and her eyes lit up with pure enthusiasm "Bev! Tell me you have a teeny-tiny part in it for me!" she asked almost desperate, while Beverly leaned back in her chair with a mysterious smile on her lips "You don't even know what the play is going to be!"

"Well, then tell me." Emma told her on an almost demanding voice.

"Only if you swear not to tell anybody."

"Seriously, Bev, who would I tell? I don't know anybody here!"

Beverly leaned forward again: "Alright! It's a 21st century play, called Dreamland. It's actually somewhere between a musical and a radio drama, so I will have to modify it a little to fit our purposes, but I suspect it will be an even bigger hit than the Woody Allan play was!"

Emma's eyes glinted with excitement "Bev, you have got to say you have a part for me in there!" When her friend just smiled on her enthusiasm, she went on "Come on! Say you do! I take anything! One line of a song! Please! For old times' sake!"

Beverly finally chuckled "I knew you would be thrilled! You know, I will see what I can do for you!" she sighed in mock-thoughtfulness.

"Come on, Bev, don't be so cruel!" Emma knitted her brows, though she was fairly sure that her old friend just wanted to tease her, so as Beverly chuckled again, she leaned closer and went on on a low voice to equal the teasing "If you don't promise me a part, I will have to find that grumpy Frenchman of yours and tell him that you are head over heels in love with him - even if that head is bold!"

Beverly gasped disbelievingly and put her hand on Emma's mouth "Hush, you crazy match-maker! I am not in love with anybody! Let alone with Jean-Luc Picard! This is exactly how gossips start, if somebody just overheard you!" she looked around alarmed, but it seemed that everybody in the room mercifully minded their own businesses.

"Den tell me, yo gimme a paat!" grumbled Emma under Beverly's hand, and finally the red-headed doctor let go.

"Fine! Of course you get a part! I seriously doubt you ever had a doubt about it!" Beverly shook her head bemused.

Emma chuckled softly and studied her friend with a rather satisfied grin on her face "You have always been so easy to get into anything, Bev! Just like at the Academy."

Beverly shook her head again, this time in mock-annoyance "That time is officially over. Has been for over two decades."

"Meaning you absolutely had no fun since the Academy, more precisely without me. Rather sad." chuckled Emma smugly.

"Meaning that I have a very responsible job here. And meaning that fun has now a different meaning that it used to have. You will see."

Emma sighed and looked into Beverly's eyes with a wistful expression on her face "I hope I will..." she shrugged embarrassed "You know... I'm not sure whom I want to convince - you or myself - that the girl I used to be, when I was still a cadet didn't die on Epsilon Four." she whispered bowing her head. Then she looked into Beverly's eyes, and the red-headed doctor could very well see that Emma now showed how she really felt bellow the surface of the cheerful, careless girl from Academy-times she tried to seem.

The realization made her heart sink, but she smiled at her friend encouragingly "Emma. You'll find her! Believe me. I'm here to help!" then shrugged "And if I'm not enough help, look over there!" she pointed to a graceful lady with very long black hair sitting at the bar "That is our Counsellor Deanna Troi. She is a therapist. You can tell her anything - she will know how you feel before you even feel it. Actually she is an empath."

Emma winced "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that thought..." she mumbled, then looked questioningly at Beverly "She is a friend of yours."

Beverly nodded and smiled again "Yes. Just as the man beside Deanna."

"The guy with the beard?"

"Yes. He is Commander Riker."

"Ah, they are the ones who have a thing going on between them since day zero, right?"

"Well, there is no proof of that... But I'm glad we made sure that you kept up your bad habits of loving gossips."

"And the guy with the strange eyes? That is the Chief Engineer who is blind, right?"

"Yes, that is Geordi. He got those eye-implants not long ago. An amazing piece of medical-engineering. I'll show you the specs and the protocol of the surgery... And you do remember every detail from my messages!"

"I will have to live here, I need to survive my first days somehow! Your messages might just be the things that'll save my social life." They chuckled, and Emma looked over at Beverly's friends again "The only one missing is your Jean-Luc!"

"He is not MY Jean-Luc! And he is still on Station 505 on a diplomatic assignment. Probably comes back only late at night... And you are talking about your Captain now, by the way!"

"Oh, I am terribly sorry, Ms Dr. Chief Medical Officer Crusher! I should have said Captain Picard. That is better, right? ...The gallant Captain Picard, whose heart is for Starfleet and Starfleet alone! What a waste! ...Okay, okay, I'll be serious!" she finished laughing at Beverly's face - her friend actually had a hard time acting as if she didn't find Emma's teasing amusing.

Beverly shrugged "Besides, he is not the only one missing from my close friends here. Lieutenant Commander Data is missing also."

"He's the artificial intelligence." she didn't have to ask - that name betrayed itself for not being a human name.

"An android, more precisely. He is also part of my holo-theatre cast, though he missed the last play." Beverly shrugged and looked bemusedly at her glass "Ever since we encountered the Borg at Earth, he has been acting strangely. He seems to be avoiding our company." she shrugged again realizing that she was talking about a person Emma had no idea about. "Well, hopefully he will take part in this play. He has quite a nice singing voice actually."

Emma shrugged too not having much to add about a guy she knew only from Bev's messages, so she said something else: "Will you give me a copy of this Dreamland of yours? So I can recommend a few things - just like in the old days."

Beverly smiled back and nodded then raised her glass "To old days!"

"To old days!" equaled Emma.

Then they both chuckled and sipped their drinks.


	2. Chapter 2

After finishing his alpha shift, Lieutenant Commander Data went to his quarters to feed Spot. The cat hungrily munched her food, while her owner - or more precisely, the person she let tend to her as Data often felt to be - pat her back. He looked around his small bedroom bemusedly, he did not feel like doing anything. Anything!

He started to go through all the things he could do to kill the time until he had to go back to his gamma shift at 2200 hours: he could practise some violin - what for? He hadn't felt like taking part in a concert since... oh, no, don't go there... He shook his head. Didn't matter how long! He could also paint something. But what should it be? He reached the last phase in his painting learning curve of all the styles ever invented just before... Oh, no, just stop it! He shook his head again and went on listing his options. Geordi invited him to meet him at Ten Forward this evening - as he did every day ever since... He shook his head again now very frustrated as he arrived at the same thought for the third time in just about 0.68 seconds - just the time he considered...

"Meow..." he heard from in front of him and looked down to meet Spot's golden eyes with a pair of his own.

"You think I should not shake my head every time I think about something unpleasant or I would get dizzy. But I can assure you, my friend, you need not to worry because it is not possible for me to feel dizzy. Not even with the emotion-chip. Being dizzy is rather a sensation than an emotion... Although I did actually experience the sensation of dizziness over eight years ago during the polywater intoxication incident..." then he stopped suddenly as he realized just when exactly was the last time he recalled that actual memory. He stood up abruptly "As if I was actually caught in a feedback loop!" he whispered to himself.

As he looked at Spot again, the cat sat next to her now empty bowl and looked up at him again. Data raised his forefinger as he started to explain to Spot what he thought had just happened while he activated two backup processors in his positronic net to run a diagnostic check on his mnemonic system to make sure that he was not experiencing a feedback loop. "You know, Spot, the occurrence that transpired just now between you and me is a very common phenomenon between pets and their owners. It is called projection. You look at me, and I project an emotion, an expression to your face, and it gives me the impression that you actually think what I think you think... Whereas you probably only attempt to express that you are still hungry." he added with a hint of bemusement.

He picked up the empty bowl and went to the replicator unit with it. Spot followed him and tried all means available to a cat to get him to give her some more food. But Data just shook his head this time in denial "No, Spot! Doctor Crusher told us that you may not eat more than once a day. You already gained a weight that is utterly unhealthy for a cat your age and kind. No. I said no! And that is my last word! ...Alright, alright but just quarter of a portion. Not more than that... Alright half a portion but that is really my last word, Spot! No more blackmail!" Blackmail... Spot had not been the only female using blackmail as a means to get what she wanted from him these days... Data sighed and filling Spot's bowl - with a full portion - once again left his cat alone to get out of his quarters, hoping in vain to get away also from his dark thoughts.

Still he did not feel like joining Geordi in Ten Forward. He sighed again. Maybe he just should deactivate his emotion-chip. The only emotion he got from it these days was bemusement anyway. It was no help with coping with whatever happened to him during the time he was held captive by the Borg. However, he also knew that turning it off would just delay the unpleasant feelings which would come back with multiplied force once he activated the chip again. No. Bemusement was better than feeling utterly helpless or desperate - just the way he usually felt whenever he tried to use his dream program nowadays. The chip stays activated, he decided, and I go and have a walk.

He went to the holodeck and activated the forest pattern that was one of the most popular among humans. He hoped it would somehow work for him too and would clear his mind. The terrain was quite difficult - or would have been, had he been a human - but he was definitely not a human with or without the emotion-chip he had coveted so much before. So he walked about in the rainforest with an effortless grace. He arrived at a large tree, where he used to practise whistling so many times. He practised for so many years that he almost nailed it. Almost! And just as he was about to achieve perfection, he finally had the chip installed and he managed to do whistling just as flawlessly as most other things. When he realized that the chip gave him this ability as well and not only emotions or memories, the realization filled him with a strange anti-climactic feeling. As if he had been reading a very long book, for a very long time, and then suddenly jumping to the very end without reading the last part of the story leading up to that end.

Indeed the chip gave him many a fascinating feeling and experience. However it also allowed some unpleasant boundaries to be formed around his way of thinking. Taking the supposed feedback loop, he had been previously experiencing, for an instance. The diagnostic ran to the end and provided no results on a malfunction. This has not been the first time he had experienced that his internal resources were consumed by one particular thought process for a lengthened period of time. If he was human, it could be said that he was preoccupied. It seemed that the chip allowed him to experience this particular weakness of the human way of thinking. While intriguing as it was, it was also very limiting. And Data was not used to the fact that he was not able to completely control his thought processes.

He checked his internal chronometer and decided to finish the program half an hour before he was due on the Bridge again, so he could have time to change into a new uniform. Although he did not require the specific cleansing rituals humans often engaged in, like taking showers and (therefore) changing clothes, he nevertheless did at least the changing clothes part. The reason behind it was that he noticed that his crew mates regularly changed their outfits even if it only meant changing from one set of uniform into another. He kept up with the habit even as it dawned on him quite early - as early as in the Academy - that humans did this because they had the ability to sweat, and most of them did not approve of the smell accompanying the phenomenon. He often wondered whether his crew mates realized that he could actually smell them all the same whether they changed or not, only the intensity changed to a certain degree.

However now he actually needed a change of clothes as the humid air of the rainforest and his climbing around among trees and roots left his clothes wet and dirty. He stopped at a patch of grass.

"Computer!" he called and it answered him with a chirp awaiting his commands "Save and exit program."

"Program saved." answered the computer and the nature around him disappeared leaving him in the dark room of the holodeck with its grid-patterned black walls. The walls seemed to lean over him suddenly, leaving him feeling very tiny and helpless, just as he did when he...

After saying good night to Beverly, Emma was just not able to fall asleep. She had never been a good sleeper, but if she had to sleep at a new place, it was just a real nightmare - not that sleeping comfortably didn't result in nightmares at times too. She decided to take a walk, and as she was walking on a corridor, where she realized she had no idea how to get back to her quarters, she decided that she might as well check this so called holodeck out. It should not be more difficult to find than her quarters. And actually after some wandering about, a turbolift took her to a corridor which led her to her destination. She had no idea whatsoever on what exactly she should have expected, but what actually greeted her left her utterly disappointed.

She stepped into HoloDeck Three and found herself in a small room with black walls and a grid pattern in yellow all around her.

"Ah come ooon! Gimme a break!" she groaned "This? This should be the big deal?" she turned around as the door of the holodeck closed behind her "Oh, great! Just great! I had myself locked up in my worst nightmare: inside a maths notebook! The one thing I need is a pen to use it as all maths notebooks should be used: playing tic-tac-toe!" she growled.

"Computer! Create a pen please!" she heard a man calling behind her suddenly and jumped at least two meters backwards.

"Ssssssshhhiiiit!" she put her hand on her heart still wanting to jump out of her chest and tried to take as many breaths as she could without knocking herself out with hyper-ventilation.

"Please specify parameters: color, thickness, size..." the computer went on, while Emma looked straight into the eyes of Data stepping out from the farthest corner of the room.

"Why the hell did you hide in here? You some kind of psycho looking for girls to kill with giving them a fright?!" she demanded then wiped the sweat off her face "Man, you scared me shitless!"

"I apologize. I did not mean to scare you. It was actually you who entered an already occupied holodeck. It is customary to check the state of the holodeck before entering on the panel next to the door." Data told her matter of factly, while walking up to her slowly.

Emma frowned at this: "Next time, when I am out of your little chamber of maths-horror, I will definitely check all of the damned panels I meet."

Data seemed to be thinking for a moment and slowly arrived at the conclusion that this was a sarcastic comment. However before he could ask her why exactly she felt she needed to use sarcasm in response to a factual statement, the computer chimed in again.

"Please specify parameters."

Data looked at Emma and as she did not seem to react, he supposed she needed some help with interpreting what the computer required from her: "You need to specify certain parameters in order that the computer can replicate the pen that you would like to have. What purpose do you need a pen for?" actually he was genuinely interested now.

Emma's scare turned into confusion as she raised her eyebrows in suspicion at this, and after a moment her shoulders as well: "Well... okay. I need a pen that fits into my hand and has a color that is visible on these walls and ...and can be washed from the walls as well..."

In a moment, the computer replicated a thick felt-tip pen in golden color right in front of her boots. "Ohmygod!" Emma blurted as she jumped behind Data in one motion. In the next instant, she realized she must have seemed really stupid. Of course, she had seen replication happening before: on the Station 505, food was replicated this way, and in her time with the Fleet before ending up on the colony... But on her planet there was no such thing as a replicator unit, and she was absolutely not used to the sight of objects appearing out of thinair.

Data watched her reactions curiously. She did not seem to be familiar with this very basic technology - yet she was here on the Enterprise in a Starfleet uniform. He quickly went through the administrative files on transfers of officers and found her name in 0.032 seconds. Emma Jones nee Stern, species: human, current rank: Lieutenant, Medical Officer, date of birth: Sep 7 2330, year of graduation: 2354, height: 1.72 meters, eye color: green, hair color: brown, last station: colony Epsilon Four, marital status: married.

Emma realizing how clumsy and silly she must have seemed, held her chin up high and went back to fetch the pen as if nothing was more natural then getting scared from a replicated pen. Then looked at Data and told him offhandedly: "What are you standing there for, psycho-guy? Fetch a pen for yourself!" she smiled at him challengingly.

Data blinked for a moment not being sure which part of her sentence should he check first for stylistic analysis - he never really talked to anybody who spoke just the same way she did - then ordered for the computer to replicate a similar pen but in a different color. The computer produced a pen in silver.

"Okay. So you are with X, I am with O. You start. First 3-by-3 grid, then we go up to 10-by-10, if I see that you are good enough!" she told him with a slight smirk.

Data looked at her seemingly sceptically, while he searched for any kind of activity fitting in the given rules and the name tic-tac-toe. Then looked up with a slight smile when he found the ancient Earth game in his archived databanks of... well, ancient Earth games. "Ah, Tic-tac-toe (also known as Noughts and crosses or Xs and Os) is a paper-and-pencil game for two players, X and O, who take turns marking the spaces in a 3×3 grid. The player who succeeds in placing three of their marks in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row wins the game. - I suppose instead of paper and pencils you would like to use the walls or the floor of the holodeck and the pens the computer just replicated. Quite innovative!" he commented delightfully.

Emma blinked at him for a few moments then nodded with a patient expression: "Yes. Glad you arrived, my dear." she sneered slightly, and then suddenly a thought struck her "You don't play tic-tac-toe, now do you? Here in space, you have other means of entertainment. You don't need to fall back on such simple things to kill time." she breathed then sighed thoughtfully as the realization slowly dawned on her. She shrugged apologetically "I'm sorry." she tried to smile this time apologetically.

Data frowned at her: "For what exactly? You did not offend me. Or your sarcastic remarks could be referred to as a means of offence?"

Emma winced now regretting her usual ways: "Well, some people ARE sensitive to it..." then looked at him now getting real confused by his reactions.

"Did you do it out of malice?" Data asked and this time Emma felt she was hit by the innocence he displayed.

She gaped at him for a moment longer then shrugged: "I did it out of being a bitch with people I'm not acquainted or reacquainted with. Most of the time." as she saw that Data looked quite confused at this she added "But then again, you are not from around either, are you?" and she couldn't stop a delightful smile creeping into her face.

"To what exactly do you refer by 'around'?" Data asked ever-serious.  
Emma waved it away then pointed to the wall next to her with her thumb: "Never mind! It's your turn, Mr. X! Game on!"

Half of the wall and the floor was covered with O's and X's by the time Data had to go - they needed to replicate chairs at the end to be able to reach parts of the grid higher up on the wall. After beating her in the one game she thought she was really good at on a grid pattern, he escorted her to the nearest turbolift which could take her home, without her having to know where exactly that home was on the still maze-like ship.

Then he changed into a new uniform super-quickly to get on the Bridge just in time for his shift to start. He found it however fairly intriguing that his unusual play-mate presented him with enough language-puzzles of sarcasm and what she called colonial-dialect that could keep his mind from going back to its feedback-loop for over an hour and ten minutes. But not more than that... And in the monotonous duty of the night-shift, he found his thoughts drifting back into a dark chamber, where horror was far worse than simple maths. And he again was thankful for simple bemusement over anything else his most-coveted chip had to offer that night...


	3. Chapter 3

Beverly stood with some amount of anticipation in front of Data's door the next afternoon. She wanted to talk to him about the play to be performed in about a month as she had planned, although she was almost completely sure he would say no. However she really thought that playing in a lighthearted little fluff would just be what the android needed to shake off his blues. The door opened, and she stepped in just to see that Data crouched next to Spot to give her some food.

"Good afternoon, Doctor!" he greeted her on his usual silent voice.

"Hello, Data!" replied Beverly, but she frowned seeing the scene. The cat seemed fatter than the last time she had seen her. She crouched next to them and patted Spot "Data. You did not give her more food than I prescribed as one portion, did you?"

Data raised his eyebrows trying to find a reply that would not make the doctor angry while still true: "No..." he said slowly, then as Beverly's frown deepened in disbelief he added "Not for one time, no."

"Data!" the doctor called indignantly standing up and putting her fists on her hips as if ready to tell off a small child.

"I am sorry, Doctor, but she is always so hungry." he said with such hopeless innocence that Beverly had to stifle a smile.

"I believe you, but look at her! She gained more weight, while we agreed that we need to help her lose it!" she reprimanded gently.

"I know, Doctor." Data winced slightly then bowed his head and patted his cat's fur again "But sometimes she can be most persuasive in her ways. And I came to the conclusion that I find it exceptionally difficult to say no to her." he confessed silently bowing his head.

Beverly felt her heart melt looking at him. Spot has grown old in the course of years, although the doctor knew that she might have over third of her lifetime ahead of her. However, she used to own cats earlier in her life, and she knew that with the passing time, the thought of losing them would make their owners more lenient in their ways. Data, she knew, could look ahead of a lifetime of eternity, and it seemed that Spot became the first reminder for him that eventually he would see all of his friends grow old beside him... and die. She didn't even want to think about how she would feel, if she had to face that prospect.

She crouched next to them again and lightly touched Data's arm as she spoke "I know it's difficult, Data. But you know as well as I do that excessive weight would just shorten her life and eventually would make her sick. And you don't want that, do you?" she pushed him gently.

Data remained silent for a moment as Spot finished her food and turned to him. She put her forepaws on his knee indicating that she wanted to climb up into his arms to be cuddled. He complied wordlessly and picked her up gently holding her close. "No, Doctor, of course not." he replied softly.

Beverly sighed seeing just what exactly was Data's problem with saying no to his cat, so she smiled kindly "Look! Would it make it easier, if I passed by every day and checked on her? I would check her weight every day, so you would have a good motivation for not letting her eat more than she should - I would tell you off, if you fail to say no to her." she jabbed her forefinger at him playfully.

For a moment, he was quite unsure about what to reply. He did not feel like having an every day guest when most of the time the only thing he wished for was others to let him be. However, Spot was more important than his brooding and perhaps the knowledge that someone would check Spot's weight every day would actually make it easier for him to keep to the Doctor's orders.

"Perhaps, that would be helpful, Doctor. Thank you."

"Don't mention it." she smiled as she stood up from beside them. She grunted as she took a step because her legs became a bit numb in their crouching position from before.

Data put Spot on the floor and stood up as well "What can I do for you, Doctor? I suppose you did not come by only because of Spot."

Beverly smiled and walked over to the replication unit "You are right. I came because of the theatre!" she replied, while she pressed some buttons on the unit. "I found a lovely little one-act play, called Dreamland. I think you would be wonderful as the main character." when she pressed one last button the unit produced a padd with the script of Dreamland on it. She walked back to Data and handed him the padd.

He eyed it with a dubious expression on his face. The last thing he wanted was to take part in a play. He quickly started to read through it, while Beverly spoke: "It's better to listen to it actually, as it's half way between a musical and a radio drama. But I'd adjust the script for our needs as we prepare the performance."

Data got to the end and tried hard to give an apologetic smile to Doctor Crusher instead of a disbelieving one - how did she fathom he would be any good in this part was beyond him: "I am afraid I will have to refuse your kind offer, Doctor." The last after the last thing he wanted was to take part in a romantic, comedic play which involved being in the very close proximity of a female. "But thank you for asking me. It is an honour." he added to be as polite as he could while saying a definite no and handed the padd back to her.

"Oh, please, don't make the decision so quickly!" started Beverly, while Data stepped to his easel and started to uncover it from under the piece of cloth he covered it with - two months ago... He had no desire to paint anything, however he did notice a while ago - after having the emotion-chip installed - that people often indicated that they did not wish to talk about a certain topic any longer by trying to seem busy with a thing other than the topic of the discussion. So now he found this a suitable time to attempt to emulate this particular behaviour to see whether he could get the same subtle but straightforward effect of dismissal. However, Beverly went after him "Please, just listen to it once."

"I am familiar with most of the songs listed in the script, Doctor." he looked at her for a moment then went back to the task of getting his brushes ready.

"Well I supposed you would, of course." Beverly grimaced but still went on "But don't tell me it's not a story to fall in love with! It's just so adorable with a happy ending."

Data looked at her with his usual deadpan expression on his face: "A man dreaming about a woman in an utterly twisted nonetheless predictable storyline, which at the very end is negated by the man's waking up. Although I do not possess any information about the author, I would surmise this was not written by a professional playwright."

Beverly pouted: "Okay, it's not Shakespeare, I admit. But that's not the point, Data! It's a very nice story with lots of twists in it and a predictable happy ending has never hurt anybody - especially not in a comedy. The point here is singing these lovely songs while walking through this heart warming story. And besides! The original singer is a spitting image of you! Only he is an elderly man. Who knows? Might be some great-grandfather of Doctor Soong. Don't tell me you don't find this intriguing."

Data gave up his emulating 'being busy' as it seemed it did not work on Doctor Crusher. He drew the conclusion that if the other person involved in the conversation is so utterly enthusiastic about the given topic as Doctor Crusher seemed, this particular idiosyncrasy would not yield the desired result. He indexed the information and stored it in his memory database dedicated to human behaviour.

"Intriguing as it may sound, I would suppose, I could find this information without taking part in the play itself." he concluded logically.

"Ah, I know, of course you could. Still just think about it. You could continue a family heritage so to say by playing the role. Besides I know that you like singing and you have a very nice voice." Beverly gave him a coaxing smile.

Data opened his mouth with a slight wincing expression on his face to negate the statement, however he just couldn't think of a particularly good enough reason against that argument. He did like singing - at least he used to. Before he started to dislike everything in his life. Moreover, he had asked Doctor Crusher for a singing role once they would cover a piece involving music. And he did promise to take part in the next play after the one he missed, being a regular member of Doctor Crusher's cast. Perhaps he just should finish with the theatre altogether as it was, he mused as he closed his mouth.

Beverly put her hand on his arm: "You know what? Don't say anything just yet. Listen to it. Just once. Try to imagine yourself in it, and we will talk about it tomorrow. Alright? Please." she gave his arm a gentle squeeze.

Data wanted very much to say no. However, he suddenly felt that Doctor Crusher was able to look at him with the same pleading gaze his very cat used on him, when she wanted to reach her goals. And just as with Spot, he found that he was just not able to say no directly. Whether this was a feature innate to all females or only the ones close to him, had yet to be investigated. Eventually, he gave such a slight nod of his head that Beverly had the impression that he was hoping that she would not notice it or would play it on his usual cocking his head.

But she did notice and she smiled broadly at him: "That's the Data I know! Here." she pushed the padd into his hand "See you tomorrow! And no more cat-feeding till then!"

"I will try not to let Spot interfere with the frequency of her being fed, Doctor." he nodded sighing slightly.

She waved once more to him from the corridor as the door behind her closed. Then she bowed her head. She knew Data was only polite by not saying no right away. Eventually, he would stick his mind to not wanting to play it - and she knew far too well that, if he set his mind about something, it was almost impossible to reverse that. She needed some backup support!

Data slouched as the door closed. He felt himself cornered by the doctor's wish. Why was it not enough that he said no once? He knew he had no intention at all in participating in any activity let alone performing in a stage act. Why did she feel she needed to push it? She had Lieutenant Barclay as a regular performer in the theatre. He had adequate experience to play such a role. It really was not Shakespeare after all.

He walked over to where Spot was napping on his bed. Perhaps this was the same kind of behaviour Geordi displayed ever since... ever since he did not feel like taking part in social events. Geordi kept visiting him every day. Even if he did not find him at home for days - which was the usual case as Data was taking as many shifts as the regulations allowed and so spent most of his time on the Bridge. Even though. Geordi tried to see him every day. To be there for him even if he did not want him to be.

He sat down next to his cat as he mused on. Perhaps Doctor Crusher wanted him to have this role just to make him spend time with people again. The way Geordi tries to persuade him out of his solitude. And perhaps this was exactly what he needed to tell both of them not to do the next time he would see them, he decided. Because it seemed they did not comprehend his need for solitude. It seemed that their need to be there for him was far greater than the need to comply with his wishes...

He gently patted Spot's fur and his lips curved up into a slight smile. However Spot suddenly woke up, gazed up into his eyes then simply jumped off the bed and went under it to continue her nap. "It seems I am not the only one in need for solitude." he muttered but could not help to feel hurt. It seemed that all his relationships were the same: always their ways, never his.


	4. Chapter 4

"I cannot help but agree, Beverly. I'm worried about him as well." Captain Jean-Luc Picard told the doctor as he sat beside her at the table. As it was their custom for long years, they were having breakfast every morning in his quarters and this one was no exception.

"Hmmm..." nodded Beverly as she swallowed her mouthful of croissant and took some butter on her knife again. "I really think he should talk to somebody, because now he is just completely closed up. When I proposed to him to participate in the play, he barely wanted to check out what it was about. I know he'll say no when I go to him this afternoon to discuss it. He does not refuse because it's a romantic or a somewhat comedic piece. He says no because he doesn't want to take part in anything at all."

"Well, Data in a romantic comedy... I have to admit I find that quite hard to picture myself, Beverly. He is fairly good in Shakespeare tragedies but comedy... well, that would be something new." he smiled amusedly as he was buttering his own croissant.

"Exactly!" Beverly nodded "That's why I'm worried he says no! Think about it! He has always wanted to try out everything that was new for him and would take him one step closer to humanity, let that be owning a cat or ...or learning tap dancing. But ...but ever since... ever since we left the orbit of Earth, he completely coocooned himself up. He doesn't want to be part in anything, not new or old things." she drew her point home.

"Well, come to think of it. I've never seen Data missing out on an opportunity learning about the human equation. This... this play would be as good an opportunity as any." he had to agree again. Beverly nodded, and he went on while pouring some tea into both of their cups "To tell you the truth, you are not the first to express worry about him. Geordi says the same as you do. And I know exactly that Data is pulling double and if possible triple shifts to avoid off-duty interactions." he shrugged "You know, if he displayed any signs of not giving a top performance while on duty, I could at least order him to talk to Counsellor Troi. However..."

"That would not happen to Data." Beverly shook her head.

"This is really affecting only his personal life." the Captain agreed and sighed knowing that as a commanding officer, he didn't have any right to interfere with that in any ways.

"Well, we're his friends. We have to do something for him, Jean-Luc." Beverly added on a low voice. The Captain nodded, and for a moment, there was silence between the two of them. Finally, Beverly spoke again "Jean-Luc." she called softly and waited until the Captain looked up from his breakfast and held her gaze "What did happen in Engineering during the Borg invasion?" she asked cautiously. She knew that this topic was a difficult one not only for their android friend but for her Captain as well...

The Captain sighed and shook his head slightly to break away from her gaze "Hard to say." he said on a dry whisper.

"But... you are ...you are the one who's in the position to make a guess." she didn't want to say it out loud why that was exactly. They both knew.

He looked into her eyes with disbelief. He never expected that she would ever bring this up - and especially not at their breakfast table. Just so casually, as if asking for the salt. "You know as much as I do." he said curtly breaking from her gaze by returning to the task of buttering an already buttered croissant "I put everything I know into the official reports. Data was abducted and the Borg tempted him to cross to their side by offering him to become as human as it was possible for him. He played along to mislead them and finally saved us all. I'm not sure what information you would need me to guess about that story, Beverly. I suppose enduring that patches of skin that once belonged to your own crewmates being grafted on your body would pose as a shock enough even for an android to become somewhat... depressed. Don't you agree? I can guess that at least I would be in his place."

Beverly regretted her question even halfway into the Captain's recital of the story. She knew how sensitive this particular spot was for him, and it seemed that he was not willing to face it even for the sake of an old friend. But sometimes, it was so difficult to stay silent about all of this! She did know about the Borg Queen after all! She knew that something did happen both to Data and previously to Jean-Luc which involved the Queen and left both of them helplessly scared of even talking about her.

She gently put her hand on the Captain's and waited until he locked his gaze with hers again "I'm sorry I brought it up. Please forget it, Jean-Luc." she asked on a soft voice which he felt he just couldn't resist.

He smiled slowly almost instinctively as he felt his heart melt under Beverly's touch - how amazing that she was able to do this even after years of being only friends! "It's alright, Beverly." he shrugged slightly "In fact, I owe you an apology for being rude. I suppose I'm not comfortable with discussing anyone's abduction by the Borg, whereas you ask me these questions because you're rightfully worried about a friend." he sighed and nodded almost to himself "Well, I suppose I will have to speak to Mr. Data myself and see if I can get him out of his cocoon after all."

* * *

 The Captain was still a bit uneasy about talking to Data about what they had discussed with Beverly at breakfast. Though he always tried to give useful advice to his android friend, he only ever did so, if Data actually asked for it. However, in the last two months, his second officer had seemingly nothing to talk about with him - nor did he, as the Captain knew, with anybody else from among his close friends. Still it just didn't feel right to interfere with Data's personal life or to make him talk about something he knew the android had no wish to talk about.

However, when he accidentally overheard Data's discussion with a Lieutenant Hobs, who was due to be in charge of Beta shift that day, he knew he had to talk to his friend. It was clear from the discussion that Data was willing to take up the Lieutenant's shift as well that day which meant the android would again lead three shifts in a row.

"Mr. Hobs," the Captain stepped next to them at the Science Console "very sorry to interfere with your personal schedule, but I would like to ask you to keep to the duty roster and not to ask for a substitution just before your shift would start." The younger man tried to put in that they would just swap shifts, and that it was a life-and-death matter to him to have his evening off, it was clear that the discussion was over. The Captain looked at his second officer "Mr. Data, could I have a word with you." it was not a question.

Data was confused by the Captain's reprimanding voice but followed him into his ready room nonetheless. Once inside, Captain Picard seemed to soften up. He went to the replicator unit and ordered his usual Earl Gray, while motioning for Data to take a seat on the couch. After a moment, he sat next to him nursing his cup.

"What do you wish to talk about, sir?" Data asked confused as it seemed the Captain just didn't want to start the very discussion he had asked for.

The Captain let out a long breath and looked into his eyes: "You know exactly what, Data." he said patiently. As the android continued to look at him confused, he went on "Look. I don't want to interfere with your personal life - as your commanding officer I would only have the right, if your personal issues interfered with your performance on duty. But as they do not, I am telling you this as a friend. Don't overexert yourself. Don't take up more shifts than it is necessary. Take time to relax, to socialize with your friends. Several of them came to me to ask me to talk to you about ...well about the personal issues you are facing ever since we left Earth's orbit..."

Data watched his Captain with his usual unreadable expression, while inside he felt infuriated the moment Picard uttered personal issues. The Captain had no right to criticize his way of leading his life! He also had clearly indicated previously that he had no desire to discuss what had transpired during his abduction beyond what he had already stated in his official reports. The Captain - to use a colloquialism - was way out of line in starting this conversation.

He suddenly interrupted Picard out of character: "Sir. To what personal issues are you referring to? I am not aware of any issues concerning myself, Sir." he stated still confused and a little curtly.

"Data, do we really have to do this?" Picard asked frowning impatiently, and when his friend just raised his eyebrows in anticipation "Yes, it seems we do have to." he breathed nodding then he went on "Data. You shut your friends out. You don't talk to anybody. You avoid Geordi and Counsellor Troi - and don't deny that you do!"

"As I am taking up more shifts than usual, I am sure it would seem to them that I do, but actually it is just a matter of scheduling, Sir."

"Data..." the Captain's frown deepened "I have never known you to tell a lie." he told him on a low voice stunned even by the thought. And yet...

Data was no less shocked: "With all due respect, Sir, I am not telling a lie, Sir." he replied with a hint of offence in his voice. Then went on to at least try to explain "I sincerely feel that ...that I do need to put a certain distance between the life I used to live and the life I live now. I feel I need to focus on priorities other than I used to focus on, Sir."

"Other priorities." the Captain repeated on a doubtful voice.

"Yes, sir." Data nodded.

"Like your career? This is why you are taking up more shifts? You would like to take the Commander exam? Is that it?" asked the Captain, but he would have sworn on his fish that this would be just another excuse.

"Well... no, Sir. I still have no ambition to advance my career, if it is not required of me." Data admitted - though he knew it would have been easier to let the Captain think what he had guessed. But he just could not tell an outright lie. Not to Picard.

"Then why, Data? Why do you seclude yourself?" the Captain pushed on.

Data gazed away brooding on the question for a moment longer "So far..." he started slowly "I have attempted to emulate the life of a social human being as most humans have the desire to be surrounded by other humans as a main characteristic of their personalities. By having friends and taking up activities which required a certain amount of social skills, I attempted to emulate a social kind of behaviour that would suit such a personality. However, of late, I have found that solitude suited my current set of mind a lot better than being social, Sir. Therefore, I decided to make an attempt on emulating what is called an introverted personality by avoiding social interactions. Sir."

Picard watched him and felt he had to make a conscious effort not to shout at him to stop telling him this gobbledygook. However after a moment, a thought struck him. Data did believe what he had just told him. It was not that he did not face his problem. He didn't even connect his desire for solitude to his abduction as it was! Dear God, why did it have to be him, who had to open his eyes? Deanna would have been a lot better choice to do this. Or at least to do this in the right way. But here he was, he had to tell him something.

"Data." he started slowly and looked straight into the android's eyes. "Turning yourself into an hermit and shutting your friends out, will not make your unpleasant memories go away." he told him gently.

Data shook his head quickly searching through his memory files: "I do not recall ever telling you anything about any unpleasant memories, Sir." he finally told the Captain, but Picard shook his head.

"I know you don't want to face it. You don't want to face the fact that what you call your current set of mind is in a direct connection with your abduction by the Borg." he told him on a hard voice, and just as Data started to protest, he went on on a much lower voice "Look! I know. I know exactly what she was like! ...I know how... how persuasive she was in order to get what she wanted. I know also how sophisticated she was in her methods. Believe me, I was in your place once! I know how torturous she could have been!"

Data shook his head in firm denial at this: "Sir! As I have indicated in my official report, I was not tortured by the Borg! I have told you. They held me captive, but ...they did not have the means to torture me..." he added softly - and in one single instant all of the memories of his captivity flooded his mind. All his resources were occupied by what he had seen, heard and most importantly felt in those hours. Her breath on his new organic skin, the stress of trying to break free and failing, the excruciating pain on his arm inflicted by a drone - and the feel of her lips on his own...

In 1.07 seconds the memories were gone, and he found himself listening to Captain Picard in his ready room again. But no matter how hard he tried, he was not able to find a memory about the beginning of the Captain's sentence! As if all his systems were thoroughly occupied by that single memory that played over in his head, not letting his brain process anything else in that instant. It filled him with apprehension - how could this have happened?!

"...the skin of your crewmates grafted on you must have been a shocking experience, Data. I suppose it must make you feel..."

However, Data again cut in: "Sir. Please do not consider me immoral or... or unfeeling but... that skin belonged to people who were no longer alive. There was nothing I could have done to save them as they had already been dead, Sir." he concluded logically on a silent voice almost apologetically for not feeling terrible about it.

Picard looked at him for a moment dumbfounded then nodded "Right." he then shrugged "Then again. If it was not the fact that she transformed you, at least in part... what is it then that makes you abandon everything that you used to like in your life?" he asked now really confused.

Data lowered his gaze then shrugged slightly "I find myself asking that question quite frequently as well, Sir... However I did not find any logical answer to it. Yet."

"And any illogical ones, Data?" Picard asked softly.

After a moment Data looked at him: "None that I was able to put into words, Sir." he seemed to wince after a moment "I often find my internal resources generally occupied by the memories of the events of my abduction. And as the change in my social preferences occurred just after that particular event, it is safe to conclude that the two has a connection as you have pointed out, Sir. Although I have not been able to pinpoint what it is exactly... I would surmise that this is the way my positronic brain emulates how a human brain would deal with a memory such as my abduction is."

"Don't you think that Deanna could help you with dealing with those memories?" the Captain asked patiently.

Data nodded "I trust that she would. However, going on a therapeutic session would require me to be able to put the events and my subsequent emotions thereof into words. I however, have found that... I am not yet able to do that, Sir. ...I have read that people who experienced a shocking or depressing event in their lives often need time to completely comprehend the meaning of those events. I suppose that by allowing time to pass on would finally help me in that too." he explained as much as he had already been able to figure out about this whole.

Picard nodded. All of the things the android had just said made very logical sense - of course. Still something was out of place in all of this, but he was just not able to put his finger on what exactly it was. And worse than that, he ran out of questions to ask... He decided to focus on matters more of practical nature.

"Look, Data. I think you could be right in that. Time really can heal. However, you need to understand that by secluding yourself into solitude, away from your friends will not make it easier to deal with any of this."

"How can anything that I do not desire be of any help to me, Sir?" Data asked confused.

"You know... you cannot always be consciously aware of what you actually need, Data. Sometimes one may find that what he needs has not even been in his field of vision until he actually gets it. You have to understand that... every time you push your friends away or you abandon a hobby you liked to do, she would win! And you don't want to make her win, you know that, Data." the Captain drove his point home finally - and as a matter of fact was proud of what he had just said, probably not even Counsellor Troi could have phrased it any better.

However, Data looked at him with a hint of scepticism in his golden eyes: "Sir. You do know that the Borg Queen is dead." he said as if he wanted to make sure that his Captain had not suddenly lost his wits.

Picard grimaced and felt he had just managed to reach the very limits of his skills as a therapist. So much for phrasing the point eloquently enough... He sighed "Of course, Data. I just want to make you understand that you need to see her dead in your own head as well."

Data's posture seemed to stiffen by that, and Picard saw that he had hit a nerve he just didn't quite understand how. "I am perfectly aware of the fact that she is dead, Captain." Data said silently. He saw her face contort in pain as her organic parts dissolved, and he saw the remains of her cybernetic body blinking as long as the Captain had not broken her spine...

The Captain sighed and stood up: "Well..." he stood opposite Data with his back to his desk "The point is that you should not give up your friends and the things you liked to do previously, your very life so to say. No matter how unpleasant those memories are, Data." before the android could reply, he went on on a lighter tone "Speaking of things you liked to do. I hear that Doctor Crusher is preparing a new play. A musical I understand."

Data was surprised for a moment by the change of the subject matter but finally nodded: "Yes, sir. She told me as well."

Picard raised his eyebrows: "I expect taking a role in it would be a big enough challenge for you to divert your attention..." he raised his hand to silence the android's protest "Don't worry. Doctor Crusher is an accomplished singer and dancer - as you know yourself - she will help you with any difficulties you might encounter."

"But, Sir..." Data tried to protest again - he wanted to tell Doctor Crusher in the afternoon that he would definitely not take part in this play, after listening to it. It involved way too much intimacy with a female than he was ready to face... especially so shortly after what had happened between him and the Queen. And yet again, all his mind was filled with all the sensations, all the smells of bodily pleasures, the voices they have made... the way she looked at him through eyes filled with almost mindless desire...

He blinked at Picard almost in desperation, but it seemed the Captain didn't care to notice it. "Beverly was a little worried that you would refuse the part, but I trust you don't want to let her down." he told him with half a smile as he sipped his tea.

Data stared at him for a moment longer then bowed his head: "No, Sir." he whispered.

"Well, that would be all Mr. Data. Looking forward to seeing you in your new play, and I trust I won't be seeing you pulling triple shifts in the near future as you will be too busy rehearsing for it." the Captain added sitting down behind his desk in dismissal. Data stood up slowly - making a note that strangely enough if the Captain displayed this particular behaviour, it worked flawlessly, at least on him it did - as he lingered on brooding, Picard glanced at him briefly "You're dismissed."

"Yes, Sir." Data replied almost on a whisper and left the room. Picard looked at the closed door after him with a worried expression. He did not think he helped with his prying at all - but hoped that his not too elegant albeit efficient half-ordering Data into playing this role would help him get his old life back. If not wholly but at least in part.


	5. Chapter 5

_After calling the Hotel Operator for a 9:30 AM wake up call, He goes to bed and quickly falls into a deep slumber._

_The next moment, He is cheerfully singing in the streets:_

_"Somebody loves me, I wonder who_  
_I wonder who she can be_  
_Somebody loves me, can it be You_  
_Who can she be worries me"_

_After singing a few lines, He starts tap dancing! Round the corner, up the bench, round the pole and through a puddle. People pass him by staring and pointing at him, a girl giggles and blushing hurries away._

_"Hey Buddy, can you spare a dime?" a beggar asks him. He stops and hands him some change then just goes on singing and dancing:_

_"For every girl who passes me, I shout "Hey, maybe"_  
_You were meant to be my loving baby,_  
_Somebody loves me, I wonder who_  
_Maybe it's you"_

_He is just about to turn another corner still singing and dancing, when suddenly, He feels a delicate hand knocking on his shoulder:_

_"Excuse me!" He hears a girl's voice and turns to her. She smiles politely "I'm sorry to interrupt..."_

_To this, He shakes his head a little confused; He is just mesmerized by Her beauty: "No, no..." He mutters - no problem, go on._

_She does just that: "...but eh I'm a little bit lost. Do you know a place called El Parador?"_

_He gives her a nod only slowly waking from his daydream: "Yeah. It's a couple of blocks down, thirty-four between first and second."_

_"Thanks!" waves the girl and off she goes in a hurry._

_"Sure..." He breathes still staring dumbfounded after Her._

_"Maybe, baby, it's You!" He finally finishes singing the last line slowly in fascination and walks after Her._

* * *

Data stopped at the holodeck door and hesitated for one more moment to go in. He really didn't feel like entering, really did not. However, his earlier conversation with the Captain made it quite clear for him that Doctor Crusher was so adamant about him playing the role that she used her relationship to the Captain to get him to consent. Another blackmail. He was trying to consider the possible outcome of him refusing the part ultimately, but he could not think of anything. The Captain would not discipline him, the Doctor would still consider him a friend. Still he felt he had to comply to their wishes. And he was quite convinced that if he turned off his emotion-chip he would say no without any difficulties. He took another moment to consider that option...

Emma was looking about with a curious expression on her face: she had been on this corridor before, or at least she knew that she had been, still she could not recognize it at all. It seemed absolutely the same as any other corridors on the ship. She wondered how long it would take for her to finally be able the find her way around the ship...

She sighed. It had been a very exhausting day in sickbay - not that there were any out of the ordinary events. It was just that she had to get used to everything. Had to brush up all her memories and had to learn the new technology she was not familiar with at the same time. She realized in one brief hour that it was one thing to get on the Enterprise with Beverly's help, but another was to stay on it for longer than a few weeks. And she was determined to prove herself to Bev and to herself too!

As she turned the corner, she was beginning to feel regret over begging Bev to give her a part in this play of hers. It was clear that it would be a challenge enough to do her job the best as she could in sickbay, and now here she was taking up an extra-curricular activity just to make sure that she wouldn't get enough sleep in the next month...

She was awakened from her reverie by noticing a familiar figure standing in front of the holodeck door: her playmate from the other night. He seemed to be deep in thought but looked up as she advanced toward him.

"Hey!" she greeted him with a much friendlier smile than she had when they first met "Mr. X! Ready for a rematch?" she asked as she got to where he was standing.

Data looked at her as if he was awakened from a dream. He shook his head slowly: "Good afternoon! In actuality, I am here to attend the rehearsal of the play Doctor Crusher is directing." he explained. His voice lacked all emotions and suddenly Emma realized what she felt so strange while they were playing tick-tack-toe earlier. He seemed to be completely dispassionate. The realization made her somehow uncomfortable, but she couldn't quite comprehend why.

"Oh..." she nodded and tried again to smile "I'm here for that too. At least there will be one other person I know. Well, apart from Bev." she added then extended her hand "I'm Emma..." but she couldn't finish.

He accepted her handshake and finished her name "Emma Jones. Medical Officer. I know. I am Data." he introduced still with a blank expression on his face.

Emma gave him a suspicious frown. What the hell?! He looked up her record? Why the hell would he do that? She took her hand away as if he burned her. All her usual paranoia that she should beware of men came back to her as if to attack her while her guards were the most down. As if they have taken another two days to take the trip from Epsilon Four. But they were here now with her again nonetheless.

She took a small instinctive step backward. Then suddenly realized what she was doing and cleared her throat embarrassed as she tried to ignore the sudden cramp in her stomach: it's nothing you idiot. He is your superior officer. Probably, he looked up your record because it was his duty. Now say something before he realizes that you are a complete anti-social.

What did he say? Data... That name she recognized! "Eh... the artificial intelligence..." she managed to get out on a vaguely surprised tone. But rolled her eyes at it immediately. Very bright idea, stating the obvious. As if he was saying: Emma, the human... she again kicked herself in the butt mentally.

"Android. More precisely." he deadpaned. He did not seem to bother about her reactions at all, and this made her even more uneasy about this guy. He was just strange as he was!

"Yeah, okay." she nodded - whatever - then shrugged apologetically "I'm just a bit surprised, I ...I mean, I thought you were human back when we played that silly game, you know." she babbled then straightened her back - after noticing how much she'd been slouching "But now at least I get it why you beat the hell out of me in it." she smiled still a bit uncomfortably.

That was the first time, the android showed any emotion: his lips curved upwards almost as if instinctively: "You were a worthy opponent, Lieutenant Jones."

She shrugged slightly: "If you don't have nothing much to kill your free time with for a couple of years, you ought to become good at it." she muttered, but didn't give him time to ask about the remark "Let's go in before Bev comes out for us!"

Data looked at her with a confused expression for a moment longer then as he followed her, he was wearing the usual unreadable expression on his face.

As Emma stepped through the door, she gaped at what she saw. Where yesterday there was nothing but walls with the yellow grid, now the interior of a theatre could be seen. A stage with no set and some thirty seats. "Wow!" she stopped to turn around in awe "So this is how it's supposed to look!" she whispered. Data stopped next to her, and as she suddenly noticed his presence so close to her, tried very hard to ignore him and looked up at the stage. Bev and two others, a young woman and a forty-something tall guy, were standing on it talking.

"Em! Hi!" Beverly called out with a beaming smile on her face.

"Hey!" Emma equalled, and she walked up to them trying to smile at the two stranger as friendly as she could. - She was not very good at this really... she winced inwardly.

"Data!" Beverly turned to the android "Glad you came! You won't regret it, I promise!" she smiled encouragingly.

Data just gave her a small smile, but he really just wanted to be polite.

"Okay! So Emma, as everybody else knows each other, let me introduce the others to you!" Beverly stood next to Emma and started to point at people. "This is Lieutenant Sonya Gomez," the black haired young woman seemed to be a bit embarrassed but was an eye-catcher who was not aware of the fact - Emma smiled to herself at it. "...and Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, both from the Engineering team," Bev went on. Now, the guy was even more embarrassed. So much so that he seemed to be praying for the ground to open up swallow him, so he wouldn't have to be here - how on Earth did they end up in stage acting? "and Lieutenant Commander Data from the Bridge crew, but I assume you two have met outside." Bev finished pointing to Data who was eyeing her with his unreadable expression. Great! Two tongue-tied adolescents and a guy with the emotional capabilities of a potted plant. That's going to be one hell of an interesting play to be in!

"Yeah." Emma nodded. Then couldn't help herself to take the opportunity ...well to be herself: "...and I'm Emma. An alcoholic for two years. Thanks for taking me in! Should I start with the fact that my mom didn't use to hug me enough times, or it's plain?" she asked on a completely serious voice.

Beverly laughed out loud and shook her head, and after a moment, the two teenager-minded followed her example - Emma had the impression that they were like asking for a permission from mom to laugh. She looked over at the android. He looked as if he was calculating the equation of the Universe, then slowly an amused expression appeared on his features. "Okay, it was a crappy joke." Emma mumbled then looked over to Beverly again: "Did you tell them that I usually have shy guys and gals for breakfast, by the way?" she asked on a lower voice.

"Well, you will need to appease your hunger with some other than these three. Besides your teeth would break on Data for sure." Bev replied as she stepped away from Emma, brushing Data's arm gently and standing next to Reg. It was plain to see that she knew how to deal with Emma's strange way of handling people. Emma looked at the android and found that he was staring right at her - well, you were asking for attention, don't get surprised that you got just that, she told herself regretting her remarks. She bowed her head, while Beverly started talking again "Getting down to businesses, let's just fill in the latecomers, right? Reg, you were explaining your idea about the holo-settings."

"Yes, yes..." he muttered and started gesturing with his hands while strangely keeping his upper arms strictly at his sides "S-so...I-I was thinking that... as this play has a film-noire feeling to it... and-and it is obvious that it is set d-during the-the early ...early-to-mid 20th century, when ..." he seemed to stutter unendingly.

And Emma opened her mouth - this was too irresistible an opportunity to miss at teasing the guy, but Bev noticed it and forcefully cleared her throat to get her attention and firmly shook her head with a strict expression on her face. Emma got it and shut her mouth bemused. She looked around to check who noticed the small scene. Data observed them with mild curiosity but said nothing. Sonya had eyes and ears only for Reg, and Reg didn't seem to notice anything, just went on with his stuttering "...so I was thinking, we could make the settings in black and white." he finished finally.

Emma noticed that at this the girl next to him looked at him with an expression that might have been on the face of the prehistoric woman whose mate just showed her that he had just invented fire. He glanced at her, but the only thing he managed was an embarrassed smile. What an amusing little game! Emma wondered how long could this have been going on between them.

"That's a great idea, Reg!" Bev commented, and Reg of course babbled on.

"Of course we... we would be in costumes with-with color, so it would stand out who is real and who is just a holo-participant." this time he managed to be a bit less annoying - though Emma figured that she would either have to kill this guy or herself, if he didn't warm up a bit to the fact that he was surrounded by people.

"Okay, Bev, let's move on with a little more speed." she blurted suddenly impatiently "Who will take the lead? ...Okay forget that. What do I have to sing?" she asked smugly.

"Well, that's the big surprise." Beverly smiled mysteriously "All of you will lead!" she declared.

"What?" the three humans gaped at her. Data was the only one who stood there seemingly not surprised.

"Bev, ah, I know that we are in the Medical field, and we don't need maths too much, but even for me, four people on two main roles seems a bit redundant." Emma told her offhandedly.

"You will take turns! One night one couple, the next the other couple would perform!" Beverly explained, while the others just stood there with a mixture of surprise and bewilderment.

"Beverly!" said Sonya speaking up for the first time Emma and Data had been there "Are you sure it's a good idea? I-I can't really dance. I will need to learn all of it." she seemed scared.

And Reg looked as if he was a chicken to be slaughtered for food - Emma saw such a look on Epsilon Four, although now this guy had no reason to fear for his life at all! In all honesty, this made her even more annoyed with him.

"S-same here, Doctor Cru... I mean Beverly! I am not an accomplished dancer!" he stuttered.

"Don't worry about that! You will learn all that you need on the way!" the doctor answered.

Emma looked from the annoying engineer to the deadpan android. Which one would be better to be teamed up with? Before she could decide on which of them she disliked less, Beverly spoke again: "I have teamed you up so you will be able to help each other in that! Data is a very good dancer, right Data?" she asked but as she suspected got no confirmation from the ego-lacking android. "You will be with Sonya."

"I will attempt to help, if I am able to." he said finally, after realizing that he actually was expected to say something, while Sonya nodded seemingly disappointed.

"And Reg, you will be with Emma. Emma is also an accomplished dancer, used to live from being a musical actor, right Em?" Beverly looked at her old friend with a smile but got no support from her either.

"Bev, that was in the last millennia. This really sounds a bit crazy..." she winced apologetically.

"Oh, come on! I really expected more enthusiasm from you, guys! I thought you would be happy to finally get a main role! Reg, Sonya! This is a big chance you were both waiting for! And Em this is the opportunity for you to get back on stage! Don't tell me you are not tempted!"

Emma winced again uncomfortably "Yeah... I'm all goosebumps here..." then pointed her thumb toward the android "You missed out Mr. Deadpan here from the inspirational speech."

Data - when it dawned on him that she meant him - looked at her surprised for an instant then explained "Doctor Crusher knows that I am here only because she has asked me to, and I will not disappoint her. I do not require any inspirational arguments."

"Swell. Sorry I bothered." Emma muttered and suddenly realized what a pile of crap it must have been for Bev to stand their silly little pouting faces, while she really just wanted to make every one of them happy. So she grudgingly decided to embark on her ship. She sighed. "Alright, Bev! You have me on board!" she walked over to Reg and lacing her arm around his, smiled up at him with a broad grin "We will kill them! Right, Reg? We will be the couple Romeo and Juliette can come to learn from!" she said with a thrill she didn't really feel. And Reg just looked at her completely intimidated. She also didn't have to check Sonya's reaction to know she was fuming. Well, we may flop with this, but it will be an intriguing one month for sure.

They were talking for an hour more then finally started with some basic dancing lessons. Bev first showed Sonya the steps of a simple waltz then let her practise with Data. Emma waved Beverly away when she wanted to start teaching Reg and took the initiative. She felt rather amused that a tremor went through him as she put her arm around his neck and put his arm around her waist. She counted, and they started to take the steps very slowly. Emma noticed from the corner of her eye that Bev went back to Sonya again, and as she glanced over, she also could very well see that the black haired girl had a very hard time concentrating as her eyes were on Reg all of the time.

"Auch!" she called out as Reg suddenly stepped on her foot.

"I'm so sorry!" he yelped and took his arms from around her to hold his hands up in defence.

Emma gave him an annoyed look: "Look. You didn't really believe what I said at the beginning that I was eating people, now did you. Nothing happened, stop worrying! Come on, relax, try to enjoy this!" she stepped closer to him - but couldn't really decide whether she wanted to really get him to relax or to get him to be even more embarrassed. She flirtatiously slipped her arm around his neck - his hair was damp with sweat already - and took his hand while he reluctantly put his other arm around her. She smiled up at him and snuggled closer "This ought to be fun, you know. You are having an attractive lady in your arms. Is it such a bad thing?" she whispered while an utterly terrified expression came up on Reg's face as he glanced over at the other couple. She smiled on: "Wait for the right beat." she said listening to the music "And one, two, three, one, two, three..." she counted as they started to move again. This time it took six more steps for him to make a mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words in Italic are taken from Dreamland (at least the dialogs, the rest is my fantasy).


	6. Chapter 6

Deanna Troi watched her new patient for a few minutes as she was sitting there in her office on her couch. To call her entree of a moment ago quite baffling was an understatement. Emma had come in and looked her straight in the eye:

"Hi! Lieutenant Emma Jones. Transferred two days ago." she went to the couch and sat down as if she had been coming here for years now and started talking without looking into Deanna eyes "My marriage was a complete disaster." she stated matter of factly and went on on the same tone of voice "He regularly abused me though only mentally and used all means possible - a few of which you wouldn't be able to imagine - to get what he wanted. Mostly sexually but sometimes in other things too. He never actually used any violence, but as it was pointed out to me later on, mental abuse is just as harmful as any other form of it... I left him over two years ago and had to hide from him for a while, during which time I went to therapy to get over all of this. Therapy helped me to at least be able to interact with men, but I'm still scared of them from time to time. At the same time, sex is still something I crave after. Sometimes so much so that I feel there is a hunting instinct in me and I need to conquer one guy or the other as if they were some prey. To mess things even more up, I was in love with my previous therapist - strictly in a platonic sense - although this will not come up as a problem with you because I define myself as heterosexual." she finished and finally raised her gaze to meet Deanna's.

Deanna nodded after a moment "Nice to meet you, Emma." she smiled, but Emma felt she kept her distance. Maybe she came through a bit too rough even for a therapist.

"Well. I didn't mean to scare you or something." Emma said with an apologetic shrug "I just thought it was easier to fill you in on the first half of the film, so we can move on more quickly from where I left off with my previous therapist." she explained.

Deanna gave her a more heartfelt smile this time then locked her black gaze on her green one "Sometimes people use excessive honesty in order to cover up what they really want to keep a secret. You filled me in on the first half of the film, but only on the parts, which you have already come to terms with. You know all of this about yourself. But what really important is: how do you feel about all of this? And what did you miss out from your recount of this film of yours?" she explained patiently.

Emma nodded with a smile of approval: "You're not bad." she remarked "Passed this one." she added on a low voice as she leaned backwards on the couch.

"Passed?" Deanna asked curiously "Was this a test then?"

Emma shrugged: "Most people are overwhelmed when faced with ... as you phrased excessive honesty."

"You mean intimidated, rather." Deanna remarked.

Emma shrugged again "Whatever... I rather want to talk about something more practical. Something more at hand" she leaned forward to clasp her hands "I... I want to understand something." she began, and Deanna saw that she was very uncomfortable. She motioned for her to go on.

Emma was wringing her hands nervously "Yesterday. I had to go to Beverly's..." she looked up into Deanna's eyes questioningly "You know, Doctor Crusher. She is an old friend of mine." she explained quickly. Deanna nodded her assent and Emma went back to staring into nothing "Yeah, so we had a rehearsal of her play. And there were two things, you know. The first one was that I met this Commander Data outside the holodeck, and we shook hands and all, and you know, when I wanted to say my name, he finished it. He had looked up my record. It was ...it freaked me out. And the other one was that I met with the other people who would be playing in the play too. And there is this really embarrassed and shy guy, Reg. And we are teamed up to dance together. I was teaching him a simple waltz. And the more embarrassed he became at being so close to a woman the more I wanted to ... you know, hold him close. All the more, because there's this other girl, Sonya and I think she has a crush on him, and she was sooo jealous. It was just pure fun to watch." her expression then suddenly changed from being amused to indignant, and she looked into Deanna's eyes "I am not this person!" she exclaimed "I am not the person who takes pleasure in someone else's jealousy or embarrassment! And I should have started with the fact that this guy is utterly annoying! He drives me to nuts with his stuttering! And by being so embarrassed." she shook her head helplessly and shrugged "Now here is a little puzzle for you to unlock." she winced.

Deanna drew two conclusions from her story of which she only wanted to share one. The first one was that it was plain that Emma had been going to therapy for a long period with a high frequency, probably several times a week. She was completely in control of her therapy, knew what she wanted to discuss, knew what she needed help with. This - though unusual with new patients - made her work a lot easier.

The other conclusion she voiced aloud: "Emma, what I notice to be common in both stories is the fact that there is a certain amount of control involved in both situations. Data is a superior officer of yours, so he knows about the transfers to and from the Enterprise. He also remembers every fact he is exposed to. No wonder he knew who you were. Still you are scared. The control was not yours. It was not you who had the ability to portion the amount of information to be shared about you. He knows your record. Thus taking the control out of your hand. The other story is the same pattern although in reverse: you were in control over both of them. You had the opportunity to embarrass Lieutenant Barclay and make Lieutenant Gomez jealous. So you did that to feel that you actually possess that control over them."

Emma bowed her head. Yes. This hadn't been the first time she struggled about her being a control-freak. She then nodded and smiled approvingly "You ARE good."

Deanna shook her head with a slight smile "You realize you are doing the same thing here and now by commenting on my therapeutic abilities. While you praise me, you are the one assessing me, not reversed. You are in control."

Now that one really surprised Emma. And she had to admit that Deanna was right. She leaned back on the couch with a bemused expression: "Alright so... what you are suggesting is that I should not consider Data to be a scary stalker and should help these two miserable teenagers trapped in adult bodies to hook up."

Deanna just gave her an amused smile before moving their conversation forward.

* * *

Exiting the Counsellor's office, Emma almost bumped into Data. He was standing just outside of Deanna's door, again deep in thought.

"Hi!" she greeted him a bit breathless and tried hard to smile - here was the time to deal with that control-issue!

"Hello." he equalled and looked straight into her eyes.

She pointed to the door behind her with her thumb: "Going in?"

He opened his mouth and then closed it after a moment bowing his head. He really did not know what to do. He would probably be sitting through the session in silence as he did the last two times.

She stepped closer frowning: "Are you okay?" she asked and seemed to be genuinely concerned.

He looked into her eyes again: "I am perfectly fine. Thank you for your concern."

She smiled: "Concern is part of the job." she replied and found herself trying to figure out the color of his eyes. It seemed yellow, but that would not be natural - then again... why should he have a natural eye-color? Somehow she found it difficult to think of him as anything but a human guy - with a strange but not unattractive skin complexion - and now she was a bit shocked by the realization that... yeah, he was not a human guy.

Oh, god, why do you look so utterly lost, sweetheart? she suddenly wanted to say with an empathic smile at his expression, because he looked like a little boy who lost his way home. But thought better of it and just shrugged.

"Well, just keep in mind that we are having our next rehearsal tomorrow at 1600. Try to get over with this" she pointed again to the door "till then." she finished with a smile.

"Certainly." he nodded but did not return the smile.

Frustration ran through her features then she waved "bye" to him and was off shaking her head. He felt nothing but numbness again. Even bemusement slipped away a few days ago. He might have as well turned the chip off...


	7. Chapter 7

_After entering the restaurant "El Parador", He finds himself in a room set in a Spanish style - there is even a group of Mariachi at the far end of the place. He takes this all in only at the periphery of his mind. He has only one thought: to find the girl! The Host comes up to him and He gives him a short glance and goes on scanning the room._

_"May I help you, Senor?" the Host greets him._

_"Yeah, I'm looking for a young woman, she just came in..." He starts but finally notices her at a table - sitting alone! "Oh, there she is!" he smiles._

_"Would you like me to show you to her table?" the Host asks him helpfully._

_He shakes his head still staring at the girl "No, no... Eh, better make it the one across the room."_

_"This way, Sir."_

_In a short time, the Host brings Him his food: "Enjoy your meal, Senor, AND the view."_

_"Thank you, I will." He chuckles a bit embarrassed._

_In a moment, the band of Mariachi approach him: "Would you care for a song, Senor?" asks the leader._

_"Of course." he replies vigorously "But not for me! For the Senorita over there." He points to Her._

_"Ah, muy bonita, she is very beautiful!" the Mariachi laugh and start to play the song. He starts singing first softly then more loud._

_"Some enchanted evening you may see a stranger_   
_You may see a stranger across a crowded room_   
_And somehow you know, you know even then_   
_That somewhere you'll see her again and again"_

_After singing a few lines, the whole restaurant joins him, and it seems that all the couples at the tables really enjoy the romantic atmosphere the song has created._

_Only one person seems to be fidgeting with more and more embarrassment: the girl across the room._

_"Some enchanted evening, when you find your true love_   
_When you feel her call you across a crowded room_   
_Then fly to her side and make her your own_   
_Or all through your life you may dream all alone"_

_They finish finally and everybody applauds happily, while the Host steps over to Him:_

_"Excuse me, Sir." he starts rather uncomfortable as He looks at the man expectantly "But the lady says to tell you, ...that you're creeping her out."_

_"Wha?" He gaps in disbelief and glancing over to her, He notices that She is almost ready to leave._

_"She asks that you... stop staring at her." the Host finishes, while another waiter steps over to the girl._

_"Would you bring me the cheque right now, please?" She asks with a lot of emphasis on right now._

_In a moment, She is out of the restaurant. Outside, it is raining and dark. "Taxi, taxi!" she shouts as a cab passes her, but it just rides on "Shoot." she whispers - this has really been one of the worst nights She has ever..._

_"Excuse me." She hears and turns to the stranger with a suspicious frown. He smiles at her apologetically "I didn't mean to scare ya."_

_She now turns fully to face Him and pours all her frustration out on him: "Look! I'm wet. I can't get a cab! I've been stood up! A lunatic is singing to me from across the crowded room! And I just wanna go home!"_

_He chuckles a little embarrassed "I know that this might sound kinda crazy, but... How about a lunatic give you a lift?" He tries._

_She shakes her head in firm denial "I don't think so."_

_"Okay..." He bows his head resigned then "Good night!"_

_"Good night!" she replies curtly and turns back to the road. Just as He is about to disappear at the corner, there is a loud thunder, and the rain starts to fall heavily. She steps after him helplessly "Hey! What kind of car do you drive?" She asks embarrassed._

_He smiles stepping up to her again: "Oh, I don't have a car! I have a train!"_

_And just as He finishes his sentence, a train arrives and the locoman pokes his head out: "Where to ma'am?"_

_She smiles the first smile since they had been talking "Do you guys know the way to Dreamland?" she asks cheerfully._

_"Sure! Will get you there in a jiffy!" the locoman replies, and they hop on._

_"Dreamland..." He muses "I never realized anyone really lived there!"_

_She smiles up at him: "Well, you should pay more attention!"_

_As the settings change, and they walk on a road next to a fence running by the tracks of the train. The weather changes too! No rain, no clouds, the moon is shining brightly over them. He slowly starts to sing:_

_"Have you ever watched a moonbeam as it slid across your windowpane_   
_Or struggled with a bit of rain or danced about the weathervane_   
_Or sat along a moving train and wondered where the train has been?"_

_She joins in as she walks a little bit ahead:_

_"Or on a fence with bits of trash around its bottom_   
_Blown there by a wind beam who searches for the moonbeam_   
_Who was last seen Looking at the tracks of the careless wind beam"_

_"Or moving to the tracks of the tireless freight train" he goes on and catches up with her taking her hand gently in his. Then takes Her into His arms and they start to dance a very slow intimate dance together as they sing:_

_"And lighting up the sides of the weathervane_   
_And the bits of rain and the windowpane_   
_And the eyes of those who think they saw what happened"_

* * *

"Sonya, please try to smile at least a little? You look as if you have tasted lemon." Beverly asked as the girl was holding on to Data in the classical dancing position. They tried to dance next to the tracks of the train and look very much in love - and failed in all ways possible. Sonya suddenly chuckled embarrassed and looked up at Data who just gazed at her with a completely blank expression on his face.

"Yeah, like Mr. Deadpan was any better..." Emma muttered to Reg. They were sitting in the middle of the seats taking a break, waiting for their turn.

Reg gave her an uncomfortable smile. Well, at least we moved from embarrassed to uncomfortable, Emma thought. "I really don't get this. He seems to be such a wonderful talent in dancing, he learns the steps only by looking at how Bev does them, and his voice is good still... He gives the impression as if a statue would be singing and dancing. How can a guy be so wound up?" she mused silently, really talking to herself rather than Reg, then glancing over to him, she muttered "I'm asking the wrong person... Forget it."

"Ma-maybe, if he... he had a different dance partner... Ma-maybe a more experienced one..." Reg managed to get out with some difficulty, and Emma looked at him with a suspicious squint.

"Wait a minute there, will you?" she leaned closer to him - so close that he practically melted into his seat to take his face out of her way. "Are you saying you are dumping me?"

"I said nothing of the... dumping would mean that we have a... eh..." he gave a sound that was meant to be a chuckle and turned into a helpless moan.

And Emma couldn't resist. She just needed to tease him out of his wits: "Oh yes, you are dumping me! Am I not good enough for you, Mister?" she asked him on a high pitched whisper "You want someone else, don't you? You already have had someone else, haven't you? Admit it! Now who is that bitch? I rip her hair out!"

"I-I..." Reg was just shaking his head while sweat was running down his temple and face. His pupils were dilated, and Emma again had the impression as if he was some animal ready to be slaughtered.

Then finally, she had mercy on him: "Reg. Please. Stop it!" she said on a neutral voice and sat back in her seat to look over at the stage "This is just a job to do. Tell Sonya she doesn't have to be jealous of me. I have no hots for you." she turned back to him "If it looks that way, it means we do our job well, and she should be proud that you are quite a decent actor, you know." she smiled finally encouragingly.

Reg had no idea how to cope with the emotional roller-coaster she had put him through in just one and a half minute. One moment, she seems like a jealous house-wife, the next she is praising his talents. And what she had said about Sonya...: "I-I... You are wrong!" he muttered finally.

"Am I?" Emma asked still smiling.

"Yes. Lieutenant Gomez and I are... are just good friends. It would be very ...very unbecoming to think that she is jealous. It's unthinkable..." he breathed finally.

"Is it, Reg?" she asked, and he looked back at her shocked. She went on: "Look, I have no right to interfere with how you lead your life, and I don't know you two very well either. But one thing I can tell because it shows in the dark: Sonya Gomez has the hots for you. She has practically used all means available to a woman who is too shy to take the lead to make you understand that. Maybe next time, she should put out a bulletin or use a baseball bat on your head or something to make her point more clear, or I don't know." she shrugged frustrated.

"A-aa... Really?" he gaped and she chuckled shaking her head now really amused then pointed to the stage "Look at her! She can't pay attention. She keeps looking our way, because we have been chatting silently leaning close to each other. Yesterday, I arrived a bit earlier, and I saw her and Data do this part for the first time. She was a lot better, because you were not here yet! It's one thing that she is jealous, the other thing is that she doesn't want you to get the wrong impression."

Reg was gaping at the couple on stage for long minutes without even blinking. Emma let him take in all the information he was suddenly exposed to. Then gazed at the couple again:

"Switching places would not solve the problem, Reg. You discussing the situation with her would. And as your behaviour is really capable of ruining this show that Bev is so enthusiastic about, I will have to warn you. If you make Beverly's play flop with your fooling around each other like mindless teens, I will personally rip your balls off and serve them on a plate for Sonya!" she looked at him with a dead serious expression "This is as good a time as any to learn how to act like an adult." she finished and stood up.

"Bev! Bev! Sorry to interrupt! Can we switch places? Maybe it would do good for Sonya and Data too to get a break." she said as she climbed through the seats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dialogs in Italic are taken from Dreamland.


	8. Chapter 8

"So what's the deal with Data?" Emma asked Beverly as they were eating dinner that evening. They were planning to chat through the night with some wine and pizza. Just like at old times!

"Data?" Beverly looked at her and took a mouthful of a slice of her huge pizza. "What do you mean what's the deal?" she mumbled chewing.

"You know what I mean. What's up with him? Is he always this timid? What's his story?" Emma asked again taking a mouthful.

"Hmm... I'm not sure what story you want me to tell..." Bev answered with a somewhat lost expression.

"Oookay, if we have to do this, lets do it!" Emma replied standing up and starting to circle the room with her wineglass in hand "By story, I mean something like: once upon a time, in a far-far away galaxy, a cute android guy meets a beautiful android girl. They fall madly, passionately in love. Then comes along the complication - here you can insert anything from an accident which kills her or another android guy who seduces her from him - and finally, our cute android protagonist gets his pretty little golden heart broken." she told the tale wildly gesturing with the glass almost spilling the contents and after finishing the story bowed to the audience.

Bev played along and applauded chuckling "Nice! You should have this published! Anyway, why do you think his heart is gold?" she asked finally drinking from her glass.

Emma walked back to where she was sitting at the table and leaned with her back to the wall still standing: "Hmm... you know. His skin has this golden tone, his eyes are yellow - why would his insides be different?"

Beverly smiled and shook her head turning back to her food away from her. "Well... You have told the plot of Dreamland up to its half quite precisely." she remarked.

Emma sat next to her: "And all love-stories' for that matter. Come on, Bev. I want facts."

"I cannot give you any!" Bev told her frustrated. She shook her head seemingly helplessly "Well, apart from the one that he is unique."

"Unique. Now that comes as a surprise." Emma remarked sarcastically "We all are unique, Bev, no therapist ever told you that?" she chuckled remembering how many times her previous therapist told her how unique she was...

"No, Em. I mean he's really one of a kind." Beverly told her with regret in her voice. Emma looked at her questioningly, and she went on "There are no other androids, no android girls for him to fall in love with, no android guys to rival with. He's all alone in the universe - at least in this sense."

"Really?" Emma gazed at her with wide eyes "That... that sounds kinda sad..." she mumbled as if only to herself.

"Yes. How come you didn't know?"

"I..." Emma shrugged suddenly embarrassed then looked back at her "As if you didn't know that I've been buried alive at a colony far from any common knowledge like how many androids there are in our galaxy, you know..." she retorted sarcastically.

"What's the fuss? Why are you so defensive so suddenly, dear?" Beverly looked at her with an annoyed frown then took a sip from her wine.

"Sorry, forget it Bev, bad habit..." Emma apologized, and meant it.

Bev didn't seem to take offence just shrugged and went on: "Data has always had a personality that's nice to be around. He is kind, attentive, listens to whatever you tell him with undivided attention and helpful, generous. You name it. I could go on and list all the traits that makes him quite popular among the female - and a portion of the male - population on the ship. But... he never really noticed that. Not even after being able to feel emotions."

Emma frowned at this - there was a time he was not able to? - but rather let Bev go on.

"Interpersonal relationships have always been something he tried very hard to master. To a certain extent, he managed quite okay. But... you're right... something happened. And he changed. A lot. I wish you knew him before, because right now, he is only a shadow of his real self."

"This something has to do with the Borg?" Emma asked curious.

Bev frowned at her surprised: "You checked his record out."

Emma shrugged pursing her lips: "Well... I got curious. I... I read the official report. What really interests me is what isn't stated in there, you know."

"Yes! That would interest me too!" Beverly replied as if finally somebody got what seemed utterly suspicious about this subject. She looked into the eyes of her friend with glinting eyes "Neither of them would talk about it! ...The Borg had a leader... a woman..." she started to explain what she suspected but had to search for the words as she wasn't even sure she wanted to state anything like this.

"I know. I read, the Queen." Emma nodded and tried not to seem too surprised at Bev's passion about the subject.

"She... I think she... She had them... made them do ...something..."

"Them? What do you mean them?"

"I mean that... years ago, Jean-Luc was abducted by the Borg as well. He was actually assimilated. It took him a while to get over it. And has been having nightmares ever since. He would not talk about it. But every time the Borg Queen is mentioned, he tenses up. He covers it very well. Others wouldn't notice. But... if you know someone for that long, you notice the slightest of things..." Beverly finished bowing her head.

Emma gazed away with a bemused expression. That was an ugly can of worms indeed.

"That must have been... one hell of a promiscuous woman with a unique taste." she muttered. Bev looked at her with a slight frown, and Emma looked back at her "I wouldn't be able to point out one common thing between your Jean-Luc and Data. Still if you are correct, she wanted to ...hunt them down both. ...A depraved woman with a power to control hundreds of drones... has a sound that's more than a little uncomfortable to my taste at least." she shrugged "At least explains why Data's dancing seems a little too... asexual."

"Oh hmm... that's not exactly that I think." Beverly replied slowly a bit self-consciously. She was not sure she was ready to talk about Data in that sense.

"No?"

Bev shook her head "No. You see, Data has always been like this. As I've told you. Many people had the hots for him. Still... he barely any time took the chances. I think he didn't even quite notice them."

Emma nodded and after a moment of thinking, she looked cautiously at Bev "You know that you will somehow have to coax him out of this, because this role needs a passionate guy. Or at least someone who can pretend to be passionate."

"I'm aware of that... Sometimes I regret that I made Jean-Luc talk him into taking up the role. I wanted to help him so much to get out of his timidity, but... probably it was not a good idea. Not even if the old Data would have been happy to explore an unfamiliar territory of humanity. But now I may have just made things worse."

Emma thought of this while sipping her drink then eyed Beverly with an amused smile "You actually blackmailed him into playing in your piece?" Beverly didn't seem too proud of it but then smiled a little and nodded. Emma chuckled "You know. That four years at the Academy with me did have a positive effect after all!" she remarked.

Bev raised her eyebrows self-consciously at this "Excuse me, Ms. Jones, I have to disappoint you. I have managed to develop my unique skills of manipulation throughout the course of years myself. You remained only an inspirational source material."

They laughed.

"Always happy to help, sweetie!"


	9. Chapter 9

_The scene changes again and they are walking into a Theme Park hand in hand._

_She laughs as She sees him looking up at the Ferris Wheel with dread in his eyes: "Come on, don't be such a chicken!" She pulls him toward it._

_"I hate Ferris Wheels." He admits finally, but She pushes him into an open cabin._

_"Take us to the top, Mister!" she mumbles to the man at the controls, and they start to ascend._

_"Woah-woah-woah..." He grasps a handle then as they get to the top, He looks around curiously "I can see my hotel from up here!"_

_She smiles and looks out at the Moon: "Say, what is it with you and the Moon? Just look how beautiful it is!"_

_As they watch the Moon, He starts to sing for her:_

_"Life was a song_   
_You came along_   
_I've laid awake the whole night through_   
_If I ever dared_   
_To think you cared_   
_This is what I'd say to you:"_

_She is still watching the Moon, and He gently puts his hands on her shoulders as He starts to sing about how He feels._

_"You were meant for me_   
_I was meant for you_   
_Nature patterned you_   
_And when she was done_   
_You were all the sweet things_   
_Rolled up in one"_

_She can't help herself but turn to him and gazes into his eyes as He sings on:_

_"You're like a plaintive melody_   
_That never lets me free_   
_For I'm content_   
_The angels must have sent you_   
_And they meant you_   
_Just for me"_

_An instant before He finishes His last line, She starts singing the same melody:_

_"You were meant for me_   
_I was meant for you_   
_Nature patterned you_   
_And when she was done_   
_You were all the sweet things_   
_Rolled up in one_   
_You're like a plaintive melody_   
_That never lets me free"_

_Her eyes shine with the same feelings his song is about, and they finish the last lines together:_

_"For I'm content_   
_The angels must have sent you_   
_And they meant you_   
_Just for me"_

_Before their lips touch, He smiles at her mischievously: "Shall we dance?"_

_He steps out of the cabin onto a cloud and offers her a hand to help her step next to him. He takes her into his arms, and they waltz in the moonlight enjoying the rhythm._

_"I didn't know you could waltz on a cloud!" He smiles and She just gives herself over to the music, the moonlight and the melody as they dance._

_Finally, they sing the last few lines together:_

_"I'm content_   
_The angels must have sent you_   
_And they meant you_   
_Just for me"_

_As the music plays out, they sit back to the cabin, and it turns into a taxi-cab. The rain pours heavily._

_"Here we go. That'll be 3.75!" says the driver as they get to her place._

_"Alright. Here you go, cabby! Keep the change!" He says, and they get out._

_"Wow, two bits! Now I can retire!" they hear the voice of the cab driver, as he rides away, they run to stand at the doorway to seek some cover from the rain._

_"Well. It's pretty late." She remarks a bit embarrassed._

_"I was hoping maybe I could stay." He moves on to put his hand onto the doorpost standing very close to her._

_She smiles at this and looks into his eyes: "Look. You're a great guy. And... you know I really enjoyed this but..."_

_"Yeah... but what? I thought we were meant for each other." He says leaning even closer._

_And She is amused to find that He actually looks as if He really believed what He is saying. She looks away, but can't help herself to smile "Yeah... I mean... It's all happening so fast..."_

_"But sometimes it happens this way." He leans close to her ear taking her hand and whispers "Oh come on. Take a chance."_

_He looks into her eyes and starts singing again:_

_"I love you."_

_She gaps at him: "Oh, Jeez!" He couldn't have said that, now could He?! And as if in confirmation, He repeats again:_

_"I love you._   
_Is all that I can say._   
_I love you. I love you._   
_The same old worlds I'm saying in the same old way._

_I love you. I love you._   
_Three words that are divine._   
_And now, my dear, I'm waitin' to hear_   
_The words that will make you mine."_

_She can't resist to join but starts a melody of her own:_

_"We're on the road to romance_   
_That's safe to say_   
_But let's make all the stops along the way"_

_He doesn't give up and sings his own love-song tune, while She sings hers. He again takes her into his arms, and they dance to a soft rhythm matching both of their songs:_

_"Let's take it nice and easy_   
_It's gonna be so easy_   
_For us to fall in love_

_Hey baby what's your hurry_   
_Relax, don't you worry_   
_We're gonna fall in love_

_We're on the road to romance_   
_That's safe to say_   
_But let's make all the stops along the way_

_The problem now of course is_   
_To simply hold your horses, to rush would be a crime_   
_'Cause nice and easy does it every time"_

_They finish both songs together finding themselves at the doorway again. She can't resist him any more:_

_"Well. Why don't you come in for a nightcap?" She asks him pulling his head down to hers, and they disappear into her apartment before we see them kiss. The door closes behind them._

_...And fireworks go off all over the sky..._

* * *

"Hey baby what's yo hurry..." Emma was crooning on a low voice as she was getting to the holodeck door. She actually was in a quite good mood. She realized she missed being on the stage. And missed singing. It was just pure fun! And this little fluff was really getting to be very cute. What a shame that they would flop... "Relax and don't ya worry... oh..." she spotted Data from a distance standing again at the door seemingly contemplating his unfortunate fate - and this time, she saw very well the bemused expression on his face. Oh yes! He would be one of the primary causes, if they flopped! The others were amateurs, but too little experience may still lead to a worthy effort. But he! He was talented! But he just did not try! Not hard enough! Not at all!

All her good spirits left her in one single instant at that. For heaven's sake! Now she is gonna take things into her hands, and kick him in the butt, if that was what he needed! she frowned and leapt next to him energetically "Hey, Mr. Deadpan. Have you finally found a good way to kill all of us? Oh, I have a guess! You just look at us with that sour expression of yours, and we all will slash are wrists by ourselves!" she sneered standing very close to him glaring into his eyes.

Data gaped at her for a moment. He felt a familiar squeeze in his chest, which he had earlier associated with anger but decided not to act upon it, so he just stepped away from her towards the door.

"Yeah, just go in, contribute to our little flop out of sulking!" she turned to him challengingly, and he stopped short.

He slowly turned back to her: "I beg your pardon." he forced the words out of his pursed lips cocking his head to one side.

She stepped up to him holding her chin high up: "You heard me, big boy." she saw that apart from the fact that he had bewilderment on his features, he was also confused, so she went on "Bev blackmailed you into doing this. And now you are prepared to take revenge by making her play flop."

Data again gaped at her - he was not prepared to be accused of being vengeful or wilfully disruptive that afternoon or on any other for that matter. "I refuse your accusations." he stated simply, but his hands came up into fists, the grip in his chest ever firmer "They have no basis at all!"

"Ah don't they, eh?" she asked "You know full well that we are behind schedule, Bev has enough on her hands with the two noobs in there." she pointed to the holodeck, where Reg and Sonya were probably already practising. "We are the ones who are supposed to give her all we can, but what do you do?" she pushed him on the chest with one finger - and regretted to find that she might have hurt her own finger on his unyielding body. The sudden pain though made her even more angry "You come in here every freaking afternoon with the face of Jesus-Christ suffering on the crucifix and give as a lifeless performance as it is possible with the talent you possess! Just because Bev pulled some strings to get you here, just to help you the way she could! That's your way of thanking her! Swell! With friends like this, who needs enemies?"

"You... you are not aware of all of the facts in this situation!" he replied suddenly feeling utter desperation - he had no intention of doing what she suggested he had been doing so far! His performance was lifeless simply because he felt no life in himself for months! Though he noted that at least, it seemed the chip was working fine after days of feeling only numbness...

"Yeah, well, you know what? I don't have to be aware of all the facts." she retorted "Personally, I don't care why dancing or hugging or kissing for that matter, is giving you the creeps. I don't care if you're an emotional illiterate..."

He cut in: "I am NOT an emotional illiterate! I have an emotion-chip to emulate human feelings in my pos..."

"Well, use it then!" she retorted again.

"I am using it! As I have been through..."

"Well, it doesn't show, sweetheart! Maybe you should have it checked or get a refund!"

"I am having it checked regularly, and it is working as it supposed to work, I..."

"Oh, yeah? Okay, then there's another reason, but you know what? I don't care about that either! I don't care if you're a virgin...

"I am most definitely NOT a..."

"I don't care if your good aunt Annie molested you, when you were a little boy..."

"I had no aunt, and I was never a little bo..."

"And I don't care if you like guys instead of girls!"

Data seemed to stop for a moment before answering - considering whether he should answer at all "I ...I am heterosexual." he replied on a much lower voice.

She stopped in her rampage suddenly and found herself looking at his slightly parted lips "Oh..." she breathed and moved in to stand very close to him - he could feel her breath on his lips as she talked "Glad we cleared that one up..." she whispered as she looked from his eyes onto his lips and back again. His lips! Oh, my god!

Data felt a sudden rush of heat coursing through his body, centering in his groins at this. It happened without any warning - the same way it did when he first started using his chip. His sexuality program running normally as a background process, barely noticeable, suddenly jumped to the front, and he felt the same arousal building up in his body every time a woman was anywhere near him! He learned to control these powerful sensations ever since and mastered the self-control every human male had to master sooner or later in his life. But now...

"Mu-Must you stand quite so close?" he stammered on a low voice.

"I'm very nearsighted." she replied without missing a beat, and as she spoke, he could feel her hot breath touching his lips.

And something just snapped! His urges were out of control again. Just the way when the Queen blew softly on his new human skin... Another powerful rush of warmth coursed through him at the memory, and he took a step backwards suddenly scared of the sudden sensations.

Somewhat hazily though, he did notice however, that at the moment, he got scared, she seemed to get scared too! She took a step backwards as well with an almost shocked expression.

She cleared her throat and kept her gaze down hoping fervently that he would not notice her red cheeks burning from embarrassment. What the hell has gotten into you?! she asked herself. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand then put her hands back in her pockets.

After a moment when she felt herself capable of speaking, she raised her gaze to look back at him again: "We are here to do a job!" she said on a much lower voice "And unlucky you, you happen to be a very freaking talented bastard." she told him with a faint smile, which he returned without wanting to. She shrugged and looked at him apologetically "Look. Everybody is stressed out. We are behind schedule and those two noobs are struggling to give their bests. We cannot be expected to do less than that, Data, just because of some personal grudge or inhibition. Get over it somehow because... Beverly deserves better than to be let down!" she finished on a silent voice then went inside.

Data looked after her for a moment then stepped inside too. He watched as Emma walked up to Beverly and tried to process whatever had just happened out there. The first processor thread he started was dedicated for the accusation Emma had raised against him. Although he was certain he never would do something as disruptive as consciously making an effort in destroying the play, he had to check whether he was doing it without even realizing it. True as it was that he really did not feel like taking up this role, and what Emma had called a "lifeless performance" might be thanks to that fact in part, but it was really not his choice. Ever since he possessed the chip, he relied on it while acting in a play. He used it as a resource, something he could tap into while creating a character. Now, he had to admit that his chip had not provided him with a lot of emotions lately, and among those the majority was feelings of bemusement and numbness - not at all useful in this role. However, he never took the time to realize that he should alter his method in creating this character. He used to act in plays even before having the chip installed, and he still had the skills required to emulate reactions seemingly initiated by emotion and therefore creating an emotional response in others. He decided he would need to fall back on those skills for the time being.

The second thread he dedicated to running a full diagnostic on his emotion-chip including digging up all the logs created in that 4.37 seconds, while he experienced that surge of warmth indicative of sexual arousal. He needed to know why his control mechanisms just disappeared all of a sudden in that timespan.

The third thread he dedicated to running an extensive analysis on Emma's personality. He also segregated the process from his emotion-chip, because he was sure the fury he was experiencing, if he just looked in her way would interfere with a proper analytical examination.

To start his processes, it took only 0.70 seconds, and the only thing Beverly and the others saw outwardly was the fact that he stopped for a moment before walking up to them on the stage.

Three and a half hours later, they were struggling to nail the scene where He was singing the love-song and She was singing the song to persuade him to take things nice and slowly. Emma had to admit that even for her, it gave some difficulties, because while paying attention to your own song, you had to pay attention to the cadence of the other song too, not to mention dancing to the common rhythm of both. Above all else, as Beverly has pointed out, playing to be in love this time was not enough.

"The scene is a very subtle power struggle." she explained as they stood on the stage. Data leaned to the doorpost with one hand, Sonya stood a step away from him rather rigidly. Reg and Emma stood side by side on the road in the street setting. Beverly stood opposite of them but talking mainly to Data and Sonya "You have to convince her that this is what both of you want to do. That fate or some other higher power brought the two of you together in this place and time." she told Data then turned to Sonya "And you are struggling inside: you like this guy a lot, you are tempted. But you also know that you should make him wait for you. You are trying to convince him and yourself as well to take things nice and easy."

"Can I make another point?" Emma stepped closer to Bev.

"Sure, go ahead." Beverly nodded to her.

Emma stepped closer to Data and looked straight into his eyes: "This guy does not take his chances. He's almost smugly sure of himself. He knows what to tell this lady to take her breath away. Probably, this is not at all the first time he has been doing this. And he knows exactly how this night would end." then she stepped to Sonya who instinctively took a step backwards and avoided making eye-contact with her "While she has also done this before. Countless of times has she seen men playing this game. She knows where the catches are, and she does not believe a word."

Beverly took the thread of thought on: "Partially, she has a non-nonsence personality. She is immune to his sentimental singing to her I love you."

"This is why she replies Jeez to it." Sonya concluded silently nodding to herself.

"Exactly." Emma agreed.

"I have to disagree." Data stepped up to her speaking up for the first time - well ever since they had started to put together the play.

"Is that so." Emma replied looking at him somewhat challengingly.

"Yes. He has no malicious intent. You are unjust to this character. To both characters actually. He really loves this woman. From the very beginning to the very end of the story. And She loves him back. Otherwise why would She invite him in at the end of the scene? He says Sometimes it happens this way. because sometimes it really does not take a lot of time to fall in love. Take Romeo and Juliette for instance."

"Oh, come on! Romeo and Juliette were kids, of course it was love at first sight. These two on the other hand, they are experienced. This is not a game they are playing for the first time." Emma tried to make her point again.

Data crossed his arms in front of his chest while cocking his head to one side, and Emma thought he looked quite annoyed - at least some feeling Mr. Deadpan. He took his stand: "I do not agree. They may have had previous encounters with love, but this one is essentially different from any other experience they might have had."

Emma had to laugh at this: "And this is exactly the way a guy is talking who has never tried to score with some classic lines before."

Data frowned confused: "Score meaning in the present context..."

Emma's jaw dropped, and at the same time, an amused grin spread on her mouth. Before she could answer however, Beverly stepped to them and pulled Emma a bit farther away from him: "What Emma wants to say, Data, is that maybe having sex with her is one of his main priorities."

"Ma-may I..." Reg stepped a little closer to all of them. He has been trying to put in a word from the beginning but was not able to raise his voice above the inaudible level.

"Sure, go ahead, Reg." Beverly motioned to him.

Emma rolled her eyes "The other experienced los..." she breathed, and Bev gave her a hard shove before she could finish while smiling kindly to Reg.

"Ma-may I point out that ...that both of you might be right?" he started his strangely limited gesturing all the while looking down and never at their faces "What if they both know what this is about? What if they know the game well? But! But. At the same time, they are feeling something... something different. Different from before. From ever before." he glanced up to check their reactions. They were all standing there seemingly considering what they heard.

"That's just about as good a compromise as we can reach. Guys, lets do this scene once again, and we will call it a night, okay?" Beverly commanded finally.

Reg and Emma went to the far end of the room, while Beverly stood in front of the stage, and Data and Sonya went to stand in the doorway. Emma studied the younger woman's expression: she seemed exhausted and instinctively glanced over to Reg from time to time, while she was supposed to look only at Data. Emma knew she would not last long before she would just break down under the pressure.

They got through the lines of prose quite alright, and Emma was surprised to see that Data seemed to find the basics of the character inside himself after all. She had the impression that he actually got himself together in just a few hours, and she couldn't help to feel pleased with herself for that.

When they started to sing and dance however, it was a complete mess. Sonya missed the lines and the cadence, and after singing three lines, she stopped and asked for starting over again.

And they have started over four times! This was the time, Emma decided it was time to intervene, and as they were setting out to try yet again, she called out:

"Hey!" she energetically jumped up on the stage and were next to them in three leaps. She glared at Sonya who was seemingly at the verge of crying: "Don't tell me that it's so freaking difficult to remember three stanzas and a few steps of swing."

"Emma!" Beverly looked at her shocked. She knew her friend was sarcastic, but she had never seen her being directly rude especially not to someone so lost as Sonya was now.

"No, Bev. This is a joke, seriously. It's painful even to watch. The only thing you have to do is to pay a little attention, is that such a big deal to ask?"

That was it. Sonya broke down in tears: "Because you are so perfect in everything!" she yelled frustrated.

"Yeah, I am." Emma raised her eyebrows then shrugged "But at least better than you."

Reg stepped to them and stood in front of Sonya "I-I have to ask you to stop... stop treating Sonya this way."

"Oh, the knight in shining armour..." Emma chuckled, but it had no mirth in it.

"Emma! What has gotten into you?! Stop this! Shouting at each other helps no one!" Beverly pleaded still baffled by the whole situation.

"Well, it may help if anything else have failed." she replied and glared at Sonya again "And it is plain that everything else HAVE failed." she delivered her last blow mercilessly.

Sonya raised her head sharply at this and not knowing how to fight back just tried to lay the blame on someone else's door: "You think it's so easy?! Just try to keep up with him! You will look just as lame as I did!" she retorted - and regretted the moment she uttered the words. Data really was not to blame in this.

Data stood there gaping at the sudden insult. This had been the second time in one day when a female used him as a means to release frustration, and he was not more ready for this one than he had been at the first. But he had no time to contemplate this, as Emma stood in front of him and pusshed her face as close to his as could.

"So. You are so difficult to keep up with, Mr. Deadpan. Alright. Bring it on!" she hissed looking straight into his eyes. He was trying to search for any reason explaining why he suddenly became the touchstone of the females' acting talent, but failed to find any. As Emma gazed into his eyes, he started to get scared that the same would happen as did earlier outside, but she stepped away from him after a second. A wave of relief rushed through him just to be followed by a wave of excitement as she stepped behind him. What was she doing? She circled him as if she was attempting to assess him all ways possible, and from all sides.

"Emma. There's no point in this." Beverly told her pleading.

Emma finished circling Data: "Why? I prove that it's not impossible to do this scene right and after that she" she pointed to Sonya "would have a good reason to push herself over her limits. Now, come on!" she said turning to Data. And to his shock, she took his hand and pulled him to the doorway.

Beverly waved resignedly: "Alright, lets hope we all will benefit from this." she knew that if Emma set her mind to something...

They sat down in the first row. Reg smiled comfortingly at Sonya as he handed a tissue to her. She had already stopped crying, and had been wiping her tears with her hand but at least seemed a little bit relieved.

Data stood with his hand to the doorpost, and Emma gazed into his eyes with a small, satisfied smile: "I show you what it's like when you can enjoy this!" she whispered as he leaned close to her as he was supposed to and looked at her with a stunned expression at this. "Computer!" she called out "Start music! Tracks from 10 to 12." she commanded, and the computer chirped and started the music.

"...you know I really enjoyed this but..." she told him first gazing away shyly then into his eyes flirtatiously.

"But what?" Data asked on a low voice smiling "I thought we were meant for each other." he leaned a little closer to her, and now they could feel each other's breath on their lips.

She chuckled and lowered her eyes for a moment: "Yeah..." then gazed back up at him "I mean..." she took her gaze from his eyes to his lips then back again, and it took her a moment longer than she expected to go on "It's all happening so fast..."

"But sometimes, it happens this way." he replied on a soft voice as he moved in to take her hand in his. His hand was warm and soft, and at the same time, the hold on her hand was so securely firm that it took her breath away for a brief moment: "Oh come on. Take a chance." he whispered, and her lips parted instinctively as she felt his breath in her ear.

"I love you." he started singing.

And she smiled knowingly, rolling her eyes "Jeez..."

"I love you. Is all that I can say..." he went on, and she watched him with a small smile on her lips until her lines came up.

She didn't have to pay attention. It was coming naturally. As if they had been playing this together for all of their lives. He then slipped his arms around her waist and took her hand in his, while she slid her hand all the way up his arm to finally rest it on his shoulder, and they started dancing. He was keeping his cadence flawlessly, and she felt she just needed to rely on his rhythm to find hers, while their bodies moved in perfect union. From step to step their thighs brushed, and he held her so firm that she was not sure, if she wanted to move out of his embrace, she would actually be able to. It was secure and exciting at the same time! Oh, god, he was good!

As angry as Data had felt at Emma throughout the rehearsal, he felt challenged by her suggestion of taking the scene together, even if it seemed that it was her who wanted to prove herself to the others. He had seen her acting. She was good. And he suddenly found that he wanted to prove himself as well! Not to all of them but to her alone. All his bad moods were swept aside for the few minutes of the scene. Most of his primary resources were consumed by the very complicated combination of acting, singing and dancing - and nothing much had any place beside that. He used all the resources he could find in his databases under the cross-references male characters in love; 1940s movies and did not even think about relying on his emotion-chip this time. It was giving him a turmoil of emotions anyways, which he rather ignored for the time being.

They finished at the doorpost finally, and Emma gazed up into his eyes almost completely out of breath:

"Well. Why don't you come in for a nightcap?" it was rather between a sigh and a moan as she reached up to circle his neck with her arms. He slid his arms around her waist again, and as she brought his face down to hers, they disappeared behind the door.

The door closed behind them locking out most of the light. This part of the set was not done having no scene behind this door. They were suddenly standing in the shades, there was no sound only their breathing, as if they were all alone in the universe. Emma found herself pressed closely to Data with her arms firmly clasped around his neck, and she didn't even try to struggle against the urge to stare only at his beautiful parted lips. In the soft light coming through the cracks of the half-done set, his skin was shining with an unearthly golden tone, and she suddenly wished she could bring her hand slowly from behind his neck combing through his hair and touching his ear to finally stroke his skin on his cheek.

He felt her breath on his mouth, her chest heaving up and down as she panted against him and felt her heart beating rapidly. From among the turmoil of emotions his chip was suddenly generating, one emerged almost as soon as the door closed behind them: that rush of heat running straight to his abdomen and groins now returned, again without any warning.

But the moment was gone and they slowly disentangled from each other's arms.

"Now that's what I meant..." Emma began but had to clear her throat "what I meant by enjoying it!" she said with the usual smugness, and Data felt his previous anger return only by hearing that tone of voice she was using. But before he could reply anything, they suddenly heard a surprising sound: applaud. They looked at each other confused then Data opened the door, and they stepped back out on the stage. Emma had to squint against the light for a moment, but then she saw that Bev, Reg and even Sonya were clapping. She grinned to herself: if it looked as overwhelming as it felt, they had a good reason to applaud.

She walked to the edge of the stage and sat down a little wearily - her legs seemed to be somehow weak. Data followed her example, and Beverly stood up to look at all of them.

"Alright. I give in." she declared.

"Give in to what, Doctor Crusher?" Data asked expectantly.

"I have already been asked by Reg and Sonya to consider that they should only take the minor roles in the play. But I really felt that we could pull this off." she said, and her eyes told everybody that she'd sincerely believed it was possible. "However, after seeing the two of you just now, I suppose the best we can do for everybody and the play itself is if we team you two up..." she looked at Data and Emma "and let Reg and Sonya take the minor roles."

Data sat there gaping completely taken by surprise, and Emma tried hard not to grin too satisfied, while Reg and Sonya exchanged relieved glances. Reg then turned to Beverly:

"I-I will have a lot to do with programming the settings, Beverly. I already have ideas that will take some time to develop but will look really great! Just wait until you see!" Reg explained with enthusiasm Emma had never seen on his face before.

"And Sonya, you said you would design the costumes..." Beverly looked over at her almost hiding behind Reg.

"Yes. It'll also take some time. But will be ready for the premiere." she promised. Emma could very well see that she was avoiding making eye-contact with her, but she was glad that at least she didn't seem disappointed.

"Alright. Let's call it a day. We all deserve a good night's sleep." Beverly declared then looked at Emma "Ten Forward?"

"Sure." Emma nodded - but knew very well that she was in for some scolding.

Reg and Sonya said goodbye and left, while Emma and Data hopped off the stage and in a moment, the two women were going towards the door. However, Data just finished with some background processing and decided not to wait until he would next see the subject of the analysis.

"Lieutenant Jones." he called standing in the doorway of the holodeck. The two women were already at the corner of the corridor, and they turned in union as Data went on "May I have a word with you? In private." his voice was blank, and somehow Emma felt it did not bode well.

"Sure." she walked back toward the holodeck "Catch you up later, Bev."

She walked in, passed him by without looking at him and on impulse, hopped on the stage.

"Computer, end program." Data called out, and the settings of the theatre disappeared.

Emma knew he did it to scare her, and she turned to him pursing her lips and crossing her arms in front of her chest: "What?" she barked.

He was assessing how to proceed with the presentation of the character analysis he had just finished, but as she looked at him so patronizingly, he decided that a direct approach might be both effective and would also appease his anger.

He took a step towards her and glared at her: "To use a vernacular, Lieutenant, you are a jerk."

She gave a grunt which meant to have been a chuckle and turned her gaze away with a bitter smile: "And it took you this long to get?"

He gaped at this: could this be real? How could she be so...

He stepped right in front of her to make her look into his eyes: "You tease everybody until they cannot stand it any longer. You hurt people who did nothing against you. You make them hate you. You hurt Lieutenant Gomez today so deep that she cried."

"Yeah, I do all those things!" she replied on a hard voice throwing up her hands then started to walk around aimlessly to get out of his vicinity "I'm a horrible person. Anti-social. Unfeeling, rude, harsh, too loud, just go on, you name it!" she turned back to him expectantly.

"Why? Why do you do this? If you are aware that you..." Data began confused, but she cut in.

"To get what I want." she declared on a firm voice.

He blinked for a few moments to process the information: "You knew that Doctor Crusher would team us up. You calculated all of your moves ahead and manipulated all of us, so we would arrive at this specific setup." he again took the steps that separated them to be able to look into her eyes, and he cocked his head still confused: "Why? Why were you so adamant about playing the part with me?"

Emma had to chuckle at this then gazed into his eyes: "Don't flatter yourself, baby. It's not your irresistible charm." she sneered, then as he just stood there waiting, she went on on a more serious tone "I wanted to save Bev's butt." she shrugged as Data looked at her stunned "She was gonna flop, this all was gonna flop! She's just so full of good intentions that she just didn't have the heart to dismiss those two all by herself, and we were running out of time. I had to give her a small nudge to do it. You and I are the only chance this play ever had. We have the experience, they don't. It's as simple as that." her voice had a slightly regretful tone, but she talked as if she was talking about the inevitable.

"You are wrong in that, Lieutenant." Data replied on a lower voice - his rage suddenly dissipated into thinair, though he had no idea why or how. "I have no more experience than Lieutenant Barclay."

She sighed almost impatiently and shrugging threw her hands up again: "Then it is only your freakish talents, I don't know. I just know that you and I will at least stand a chance to do this in a way that Bev will not have to explain herself to anybody."

Data slowly nodded: "I understand." he whispered.

Emma smiled then winced a little "Don't get illusions, it won't be easy. We will be suffering by the time we get to the premiere. Our throat will hurt and our voices will be gone at the most unexpected moments!"

"My voice simulation is not based on vocal cords, therefore the quality of my voice cannot change in that fashion."

"Oh, swell. But we WILL be stiff and sore and..."

"I cannot get stiff and sore either."

"...and tired all the time."

"I cannot get tired."

"Ah... damn you in hell!" she laughed out loud in frustration and couldn't resist to playfully grab the front of his uniform. Then as she realized what she had been doing she instantly let him go tucking her hands firmly into her pockets "Okay, then I will suffer - and you will suffer because of that, believe me!" she told him keeping her eyes down then without looking at him, turned to go "See you tomorrow!"

She was almost at the door when Data replied: "Lieutenant Jones." she turned and looked at him as he went on "I shall endeavour to perform adequate to your performance."

She smiled first a real smile, then the smugness returned "Of course you will. Otherwise I rip your balls off and..."

"...serve them to Lieutenant Gomez?" he finished trying to equal her sneer.

She frowned: "I was going to say: to Beverly. ...Reg talked to you about..."

"No. My ears are better than the average dog's." he explained simply with a very small smile - and Emma suddenly had the impression that she was not the only one in the room who was prone to smugness.

She chuckled again with a bit of frustration: "Is there anything that you are mediocre in at all?" she waved before he could answer "I will watch what I say in your vicinity then. See you, Deadpan!"

As the door closed behind her, she heard him say: "See you, Lieutenant Jones." And somehow she couldn't help feeling utterly excited about the rehearsals to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogs in Italic are taken from Dreamland.
> 
> The exchange "Mu-Must you stand quite so close?" "I'm very nearsighted." are from 'What's up Doc?', the movie that inspired the title of this story. :)


	10. Chapter 10

Data sat at his computer that night trying hard to occupy his thoughts to keep his unpleasant memories from creeping back into his mind. He analysed his logs of the last two months in order to find a correlation between the workload on his system and the frequency of the images appearing in his mind and found some valuable data. If 72 percent of his working memory capacity and about the same amount of processor time was effectively in use, there was no room for any other conscious process to start or for a background process to come to front. If however, this number was lower than 50 percent which was still not even in the vicinity of his everyday workload, an occasional image or other kind of memory would appear in his mind. If the load was even lower, below 30 percent, he would find himself in that strange feedback-loop-like state, where everything would remind him of the events that transpired in Engineering two months before. He also found that by occupying his mind in this way, the emotions he experienced remained at only a subtle level, there were no high peaks in their potency. And this effect was just as gratifying as the diversion of his thoughts.

In order to reach the 72 percent workload, he needed to run multiple processes preferably using a highly complicated set of variables. To meet the requirement of such a high load, he found that the combination of dancing, singing and acting he was to perform at the holodeck was almost solely the only activity that could achieve the desired effect. He was now attempting to simulate the effect by simultaneously doing several things at a time. He was listening to a variety of music written in the so called "classic" style that was used in the first half of the 20th century. Although he found the term "classic" as slightly misleading, because he could find no correlation between Frank Sinatra and Bach. He was also downloading and indexing databanks about the genre "film noir", which Doctor Crusher indicated to be one of the genres "Dreamland" could be associated to. At the same time, he was reading about diets dedicated to cats in need of losing weight.

Spot appeared at his feet after a while and softly meowing to him, she started to climb up into his lap.

"Spot. You know that I do not appreciate it when you climb onto my desk." he told her on a soft voice, though he wanted to sound reprimanding "You know that, do you not." he told her while picking her up onto his lap. Spot immediately climbed onto the surface of the desk and positioned herself comfortably in the middle of the console. "Spot, do not be bad, please..." he told her again trying to sound reproachful.

About half a year ago, he noticed that Spot did not jump higher than the bed. She then picked up the habit to first climb onto his lap and then from there onto the desk. After consulting with Doctor Crusher, it became clear that the excessive weight and Spot's age had put a stress on the cat's delicate joints and bones making her unable to jump up to higher places. The thought made his heart sink, and he just patted the cat's soft fur. Spot put her head into his palm and started to purr as he stroked her gently. "Alright. You are not a bad cat. Even if you climb on my desk." he whispered. He started to feel a catch in his throat "I wish you could climb up on your own."

Before he could lose himself in sadness any more, the door chime sounded. Blinking back the tears that suddenly came to his eyes, he called out:

"Come in, please."

The door opened and Doctor Crusher stepped in: "Hi, Data!" she greeted him smiling.

He stood up politely and went around his console to step up to her: "Doctor Crusher. Good evening!"

She laughed out loud at this: "Evening? Data, it's 5 AM! It's morning!"

"Oh." he quickly checked his internal chronometer. She was right. "You are correct!" an amused small smile appeared on his lips "I seem to have... lost track of time!" he replied slowly with childlike wonder on his face.

Beverly saw that it was a bigger thing than it would seem to a human: "It has never happened before?" she asked curious.

Data looked into her eyes, and she was glad to see the same glint that he used to have before when he found something intriguing... "No, Doctor. Ever since my emotion-chip has been installed, I tried to perceive time the way humans do. I expected it could generate the same illusions that humans normally associate with time, for instance, when humans perceive time to fly by when they engage in activities they enjoy, or when time creeps by sluggishly, when they feel bored. But until now... it has never happened. It may be related to my attempt at occupying my mind."

Beverly also noted that some of his babbling had also returned - but this time, she didn't mind it at all. "Occupying your mind, hmm, I can hear that." she told him on a slightly disapproving voice indicating the jumble of music that was still playing.

Data started to explain "I am conducting research on the musical styles of the first half of the 20th century." then slowly realized that the expression on her face was not of someone who enjoyed what she heard "Would you like me to turn it off?"

"Well, it would be nice, if we could cut back on Irwin Berlin a little, maybe Sinatra can stay." she replied chuckling.

"Which one of the Sinatra albums would you rather prefer?"

"There are more of them playing right now?" Beverly looked at him with wide eyes, then she tried to somehow differentiate anything from the turmoil of singing voices, but failed altogether.

"Yes. Frankly Sentimental, In the Wee Small Hours and Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back - although the latter two are from the second half of the century, after listening to most of his early albums, I came to the conclusion that it might prove useful, if I listened to his later works also."

"Okay, Data, I see, but lets just pause it for a little while, okay?" she asked finally looking at him pleading.

"Yes, Doctor. Computer, pause all music, please!" he commanded and all of a sudden they were left in silence.

Beverly felt her ears were ringing. After blinking for a moment as if to clear her head, she finally looked at him with a glad expression on her face "I'm happy to see that you found something you liked in our play."

Data felt he could not answer to this. He had yet to decide whether he indeed liked anything in the play or it was rather only the benefit of his mind being occupied by it that seemed appealing to him.

"Now, let me see how is the big girl today!" she smiled again and looked over at Spot where she was taking a nap still on the desk. She walked up to the desk, took out the tricorder she had brought and ran a scan on the sleeping cat "Hmm... I have to praise you, she has not gained weight in the last two days. You managed to say no to her after all."

He walked back to the desk too and lay a gentle hand on his cat: "It is not easy. But for her benefit, I do." he replied, and Beverly was surprised that his voice was barely above a whisper.

She looked at him for a moment longer and felt her heart sink seeing his wistful expression. She put her tricorder away and touched his arm lightly: "Data." she called softly and he looked stunned first at her hand then at her face at the touch "She will live a long, healthy life. We just have to help her lose that weight. And we are on the right track. In every diet, it's always the first step that's difficult. You know, since she has nine lives, she may as well outlive even you!" she told him trying hard to cheer him up.

Data looked at her confused at first then found the necessary reference and smiled gratefully: "I do not believe in superstitions, Doctor, but I appreciate your effort at lifting my mood. In all honesty, indeed, I am very worried about her."

"Don't be! She is not sick. Just a little fat... I-I mean, overweight. She will lose it in no time." she told him encouragingly.

"Thank you, Doctor." he replied, and as it became the custom in the last few days, he thought she would say goodbye and leave for her breakfast with the Captain. But this time, she lingered on. It was obvious that something was on her mind, but she seemed a little uncomfortable about bringing it up. "Is there anything I can help you with, Doctor?" he asked finally.

"Ah...well." she started seemingly reluctantly "No, it's not something that you can help with. It's just, I would like to tell you something."

"Yes, Doctor."

"Look. Since things have taken a different turn yesterday than I have expected... I want to ask you... are you okay with what we have decided on? Because if you don't want to play with Emma, I want you to know that you do not have to..." she saw that he just looked at her confused waiting for her to go on so she did "Because I know that she is difficult and ...and as far as I could see, you don't really like her. When I ...when I asked Jean-Luc to talk you into playing in Dreamland, I did it because I thought that it would be fun, and you could enjoy yourself with all the singing and tap-dancing... I came to see that you don't really like the role, but... but actually, I would give it some time, maybe later you would get to like Him. However, now that I had to team you up with Emma, that is a big change in the settings. ... So as much as I would hate to lose you from this play, what I want to say is that the last thing I want to do is to force you to play a role that you don't like with somebody whom you hate. That would never be my intention. If you don't want to do this, I let you go, Data."

Here was his chance, he realized. He could get out of this, and nobody would think anything - at least, his emotion-chip seemed not to generate any feelings of necessity in participating as it did when the Captain indirectly ordered him to play the part. Now, he could walk away, and everybody would understand. Lieutenant Jones WAS very difficult after all. Lieutenant Barclay and Gomez were witnesses for that as well, and even Doctor Crusher, her only friend admitted that.

"No, Doctor Crusher." he heard his voice suddenly, and they both stood there surprised by his answer.

"Really? Are you sure you would be okay?"

"I..." he took a moment longer to reply, then he cocked his head to one side and told her: "I find Lieutenant Jones challenging. Both in the acting profession and personality-wise. I am inclined to stand up to both of these challenges."

Beverly smiled relieved "I'm glad, Data. Well, see you in the afternoon then!" she waved cheerfully and left.

Standing up to both challenges. It WAS true. It was also true that he did not want to give up the only activity that would put enough workload on his system to divert his mind. He also wished to study her personality, though the sudden attraction he had felt twice triggered by her nearness was baffling, he also decided that probably taking his sexuality program offline while being with her would solve the issue and would allow him to form an objective view of her. The diagnostics he had run on both his chip and the sexuality program returned no errors, so this was the only option he felt he had until he gained more information about her.


	11. Chapter 11

That afternoon they decided to rehearse the previous scenes to get used to each other and it soon became clear that the success of that one scene they performed together the day before was not by accident. They just clicked. Data had to admit that it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience to dance with Emma - especially that at those times she would not have the chance to speak and thus would not have the chance to tease him. Because she did tease him. In the two hours thirty-five minutes that had passed, he could count thirty-seven separate occasions when she managed to find something to tease him with. And he was almost completely sure that he might have missed a few because of his lack of thorough understanding of sarcasm. He was collecting all of these instances, so later on he could further analyse her personality and possibly to develop a counter-measure to her teasing.

They were at the very end of the first scene, where he had to do some tap-dancing - which was also an enjoyable activity - and almost finished the prose.

"...it is thirty-fourth between first and second." he replied to her question about the whereabouts of El Parador.

"Thanks." she replied smiling and hurried off the stage.

He looked after her with a smile of wonder: "Maybe, baby, it's you." he sang the last lines.

"Very good, guys!" Beverly said smiling proudly at them.

"Doctor Crusher." Data turned to her while Emma walked back up the stage to where they were standing.

"Yes, Data."

"I am curious. I would like to understand the motivation of my character more thoroughly."

"Very well, Data, just ask whatever it is."

He cocked his head to one side: "I believe, the phenomenon He is experiencing while talking to her is what is commonly called love at first sight. However, He seems completely sure from the very beginning that somebody loves him, somehow implying that that somebody is a very particular person. Can humans sense such a thing? I attempted to research the subject and found some contradictory resources on the matter. So I decided the best approach is to ask you, so I can understand the motivation of my character behind such a cheerful, although somewhat senseless behaviour as tap-dancing on the streets."

Emma looked at him in disbelief: "Oh, God! Does Singing in the Rain ring any bells?"

Thirty-eight, Data counted. Although singing in any kind of precipitation did not "ring any bells" - or at least was not found in his databanks on weather - from her tone of voice he could tell it was another teasing.

Beverly ignored her "Data, you are right, I also think it is love at first sight. Between two people who are not at all beginners at love-affairs. About sensing that you have a kind of soul-mate, somebody who awaits only you... well, you see, it's a matter of belief. There are people who believe that every person has one and only one real love of their lives. But there are others who think that love between two people come slowly with a lot of compromises and respect towards each other and that love can come to a person several times. It's only that you have to open your heart and eyes to it." she finished smiling softly.

"Which of these beliefs do you share, Doctor Crusher?" he asked silently - and his utter innocence again caught Emma's breath. As if a child was asking his mother: which one should I believe in, mommy? She looked at Bev: this must have put a terrible weight on the person whom he confides with his questions. Then a thought struck her: what did people who created him do at the start of his life, if they didn't answer these questions to begin with?!

"Both." Bev replied and showed no sign of that weight of responsibility Emma had guessed she would. "I believe that love can take a lot of forms. It can come quickly and passionately. And it can go just as quickly. And..." she gazed away with a dreamy expression "yes, it can come with time. Slowly and gently. Feelings of friendship and support can turn into something deeper. Something more meaningful. You don't even notice, it develops so subtly..." she sighed "And one day you just realize that you can't even imagine your life without that special someone."

Emma saw that she should say something before her friend actually names that special someone just in front of HIS second officer: "Bev, Bev... just stop okay? This is so sweet that we all are dying from diabetes by now."

Bev seemed to get to her senses in a moment. She shook her head a bit embarrassed: "Right, of course."

Data frowned at this irritated. Emma even did that to her own friend! She did not even have mercy on Doctor Crusher.

Suddenly, Beverly's com badge went off:

"Ogawa to Crusher"

"Crusher here." Bev replied after pressing the badge.

"Doctor Crusher, Ensign Harris is here to have her regular pregnancy examination. She says that since Doctor Selar is on shore-leave..."

"Yes-yes, we agreed that I would take over the pregnancy exams. I'm on my way. Crusher out." she finished and closing the channel, she looked at them apologetically "It won't take more than half an hour, forty minutes tops. I suggest you should take a short break, and after that, go on with the next scene, alright?"

"With the restaurant? Okay." Emma nodded, then Bev left them alone on the empty holodeck.

Emma looked up at Data who seemed to take some steps away from her. She watched him for a few moments then decided that they should break the ice and start to somehow communicate without Bev as a mediator. She looked at him with as a neutral expression as she could muster: "I think your character doesn't sense anything that you are suggesting."

He turned back to her and frowned: "Then what do YOU suggest?" it came out a bit too harsh.

Emma tried not to notice his irritation - especially that she didn't really understand what its source was - and just shrugged: "He's in love with love." she replied simply.

Data opened his mouth to reply something, but then it took him some more time to formulate the question: "How can one be in love with love? How can one feel an emotion toward an emotion? It seems contradictory."

She decided that she wanted to look up into his eyes when she would answer this, so she walked up to him and gazed straight into his eyes. He didn't turn away this time.

"Why?" she asked "Have you never felt that way before? Have you never had that thrill of the rush of the hormones, when you feel as if everything and everybody around you would suggest that right after the next corner you will find the biggest love of your life - and then of course you turn that corner, and there is nothing but trash there..." she looked away grimacing then back at him again "But anyway, you just love that feeling! You are all smiles while walking down a street where even the pigeons are having their wedding dance, and it's spring, the fragrance of blooming flowers is in the air - love is in the air! You just have to love that. This is how He feels, at least, that's what I think." she added finally then looked into his eyes questioningly "You really never had that?"

"I seem to lack one prerequisite which you listed as a must to have this emotion: I do not have hormones."

Emma waved that excuse away: "Oh, come on! But you do fall in love. With or without hormones. Don't tell me you don't just adore that feeling!" she told him with a smile.

Data seemed to hesitate. One moment gone. Another. And another without an answer. And it suddenly dawned on Emma:

"You've never been in love, have you." she whispered stunned.

"I..." Data hesitated for a moment longer then looked at her ice-cold again "I do not feel inclined to continue this conversation."

Emma was shattered to pieces in a single moment - and the worst was that she had no idea why. Suddenly, she felt a tight squeeze in her chest, which made her voice to be lost "Of course you don't." she breathed gazing down "I would answer you, if you asked me..." she murmured almost only to herself.

"I also do not feel inclined to pry into your private life, Lieutenant Jones." he told her on his usual silent tone.

Her head snapped up at this, her features hard like a stone: "Yes, Sir, Commander, Sir! From now on, I will stick to topics strictly in relation with our professional affairs, Sir!" she stood with her back straight, her gaze ahead like a professional soldier "May I ask for permission to have something to eat in our break, Sir?"

Data tried to count on, but he was not sure whether he just should count the whole scene as one teasing (or rather insult) or count her tone, her posture and the meaning of her words separately. Before he could answer, she turned her gaze to him, looking daggers at him, then simply walked to the replicator unit and asked for a sandwich. He watched her as she sat at the edge of the stage to eat it. He stood there for a moment longer then went to sit next to her. She seemed to ignore him for a while then stole a glance from him then another and another. The last time her sulking expression turned into a neutral one.

Finally, she held out her half-eaten sandwich to him: "You want some?" she asked.

He gazed at the offered food and a grimace crept into his features. He loathed to eat after someone else! He was able to analyse thousands of different molecules, and with his emotion-chip, he finally was able to actually taste food as well, enabling him to use the two abilities together. When trying to eat something together with someone else, the result was that he could precisely differentiate between the taste of the food and the taste of the saliva of his eating partner. The effect left the impression of kissing in his mind, and thanks to his emotion-chip, he felt mortified by the experience, because he never ever intended to kiss his best friend on the mouth! And Geordi had no idea what has gotten into him causing him even more embarrassment, when he had to explain it to him...

Emma frowned seeing his hesitation: "Oh, come on, take it! I don't have leprosy!"

"Your status of health was never in question, Lieutenant Jones." he answered on a calm voice.

"Then take it, Deadpan! You need to keep in top shape as well! Your bones clatter under your skin!" she added, when he finally, reluctantly took the sandwich from her hand.

He took a bite and chewing on it, he replied: "I do not require sustenance."

Emma laughed out loud taking back her sandwich from him: "Of course you don't..." she mumbled looking ahead then turned to him again: "How was it? Did you like it?"

Data swallowed his mouthful and looked straight into her eyes: "Yes, I did." he replied. And it was true. And it was also true that he was not referring to the food. The taste of her in his mouth started a warm feeling in his groins. Though this time, it was not a blaze only embers.

She smiled as she took a bite from the sandwich exactly at the place he left his teethmarks. She looked at him mischievously: "Now, it's as if we have been kissing." she told him naughtily.

Data gaped at her. Did she actually read his mind?! Did she have the same ability to taste his saliva as he had tasted hers? That warm feeling began to steadily grow. No, no, no... this was not right! He had taken his sexuality program offline before crossing the threshold of the holodeck. Why was it online again?!

Emma didn't seem to sense anything from his confused thoughts. She just looked at him apologetically: "I'm sorry I have invaded your privacy before. It'll never happen again. I really didn't mean to hurt your feelings." she told him on a soft sincere voice.

He looked at her surprised then suddenly forlorn: "Didn't mean to hurt my feelings. Which occasion do you mean exactly? Only the last one, or your apology refers to the near forty occasions before that as well?" he asked on such a matter of fact voice that she felt completely demolished by it.

But she was not ready to show a male that she was hurt in any way, so she just grimaced then looked at him with a patronizing look: "You keep count. Maybe you should have your head examined. Such behaviour might be a sign of Compulsive-disorder, you know." she told him popping the last bit of her sandwich in her mouth and leaping to her feet, walked away.

Warm feelings gone. Irritation back. He got to his feet as well and catching up with her at the back of the set, looked into her eyes: "I do not require an examination of my mental state. I am not capable of human mental disorders you are suggesting. I am an android. And you are taking offence on a question that was based on facts."

"Fine! What do you want to hear? That I'm sorry for who I am? Or that I won't be teasing anyone any more? You will be sorely disappointed, Deadpan!"

"Why? Why do you have this need to insult everyone around you? Why do you call everybody names? I wish to understand your motivation."

"My motivation?"

"Yes! I do not see the point in scaring people away. I wish to understand."

"Strange this coming from you, Deadpan. You don't understand?" she looked at him again with that smug expression, and now Data was even more confused. She then started to slowly walk towards him making him step back "You spend most of your day on duty." a step "Then you spend your free time here." another step "Doing a play that you never even intended to." and another "With a person you don't even like. ...Your friends forgotten. Your life forgotten. And you are saying you don't understand my motivation behind running away from people."

He gaped at her at this, then swallowed hard as he felt a peculiar combination of sexual arousal automatically triggered by her nearness and sheer panic!

"The motivation is the same, Deadpan. Only the means are different." she was now looking straight into his eyes, their chest brushing.

He shook his head and tried to take another step away from her gaze, but the closed door of the set behind him stopped him. She didn't let him run away, she again closed the distance between them and looked into his eyes: "I am just as intimidated as you are." she whispered to him.

Suddenly, his mind was flooded with images from his memories with the Borg Queen. When she walked up to him slowly, seductively asking him about his experiences with physical forms of pleasure. He felt just as cornered as now. Just as afraid. And just as aroused. Tempted. Seduced. Her beautiful lips just as close as now Emma's were. The heat of her body pressed against him.

He made a whimpering sound, and as his eyes closed, Emma suddenly realized something was very wrong. She knew he was not with her any more. She had seen this before, she had seen post-traumatic flashbacks of others, and she had lived them herself as well. Oh, God, Deadpan, you are even a bigger mess than I am; she thought as she watched him standing there with closed eyes, tortured, hoping that it would all just go away.

She slid her fingers around his wrists gently - his pulse was racing - and leaned closer to him calling on a soft voice: "Data!" She felt him shudder at the light touch and the sound of her voice, she went on "Stop this. Whatever you see, it's not real. She's not real! You're not there with her. But here with me! Do you hear my voice?" she asked as she gently stroked his wrists with her thumbs "I'm here. And not going away!"

Another shudder rippled through him, and he opened his eyes slowly looking at her through his long lashes with unfocused eyes. He suddenly made an attempt to break away from her, but it was only half-hearted, and she put her hand gently on his shoulder to make him stay:

"Ssshh! Just stay here. Calm down. We're not rushing anywhere." she told him still on a soft voice, and he was amazed to find that it soothed him. He relaxed back against the door and let her stroke his wrist and shoulder where her hands still rested. Oddly enough, her touch was soothing as well. It did not create the usual rush of arousal this time.

After a few moments, the real world fully returned to focus, and he felt very embarrassed. He opened his mouth, and she looked back up at him with a calm gaze. "I..." he started "I cannot explain..."

"Hush!" her touch on his shoulder became more firm for a moment "You don't have to. Just..." but her sentence was interrupted by the opening holodeck door. She was thinking quickly and slid her arms around his neck pulling him into a full embrace and saying her last line of the last scene they have covered so far:

"Well, why don't you come in for a nightcap?"

She opened the door behind him, and they disappeared behind it as Beverly walked up to the stage.

Emma gave him a small smile as he looked at her stunned in the shades, then she opened the door and stepped out to greet Beverly:

"What's up, girl? New baby on board?"

Bev laughed: "It would be too soon for that! How come you are rehearsing the last one? I thought we agreed..."

"We decided to do the scene that was already discussed and fully developed and wait with the restaurant scene until you return." she lied, and as she looked over to Data, she was relieved to see that he looked back at her now with his usual deadpan expression.


	12. Chapter 12

Data arriving home was determined to find something to occupy his mind so much so that he was almost in a panic. This could never ever happen again! And especially not with somebody around! He did not even fully comprehend what had occurred in the holodeck. One moment, he stood there with Emma, the next...

He shook his head suddenly scared: "What is happening to me?" he whispered standing in the middle of his bedroom. Suddenly, something brushed against his leg, and he jumped back frightened just to see his confused cat gazing up into his eyes.

"Spot..." he gasped and in one motion swept his cat up into his arms. He cuddled her burying his face into Spot's soft fur closing his eyes. The cat pushed her head against his jawline almost compassionately and started to purr. The sound and the touch were both very soothing, and Data, as he had many times before, again felt grateful for her in his life. All at once, he was reminded of the moment, when he had found her in the debris of the Enterprise-D. What would I do without you? the thought crossed his mind and his eyes filled with tears.

He slowly sat down on his bed as his tears began to fall. After a moment, Spot decided it was time to show that she was made of cat, and as such, she needed her personal space, so she jumped off of his lap leaving him devastatingly alone. He felt completely lost, and the worst was that he had no idea why. He lay down on his back helplessly. Why? Why was the Queen haunting him? He was not tortured. He was not made to do anything! It was all his decision! All of it! So what was the reason? If nothing had happened to him at all.

Suddenly, the door chime sounded and he became alert. It was 22:42, very late for a stranger to visit. Although most people on the ship knew he did not require sleep, still they seemed to treat the late hours as if he was a human: almost nobody came to visit at this time of the day. It was surely Geordi. He breathed steadily as he closed his eyes. He would go away, if he did not answer. It was rude. He must have known that he was home, his combadge sold his whereabouts. But he really was not able to face any of his friends right at that moment. "Go away, please." he mouthed inaudibly.

The door chime sounded again. And again. And again. Data frowned at this assertiveness. It was not Geordi that came in mind in connection to this particular characteristics, and as if to confirm his suspicions he heard: "Come on, Deadpan, open it! Or I'll use a battering ram!" Emma's voice rippled through the comlink making him leap to his feet.

He wiped his face in his uniform sleeves and called: "Open." without thinking.

Emma stepped through, a large plate in her hand with a pile of sandwiches on it: "Were you sitting on your ears? My arm's gonna break under this while waiting for your highness to graciously open the freaking door." she told him scornfully, pushing the plate into his hands "Dinner." she said and looked around curiously.

Data gaped at this, and he was not able to choose from the myriad of feelings springing to his mind, though irritation, shock and relief were on top, no matter how contradictory they seemed to be felt against one single individual.

"I do not believe I had indicated that I wished to dine or to have company at this hour." he decided to stick with irritation.

Emma was already strolling in his workspace area checking out his stuff on the shelf: "And you do not require sustenance. Yeah, yeah, bla-bla-bla." she waved while taking his clay mask into her hand that he had made when his mind was occupied by an entire civilisation - maybe he just should find that cultural archive again, one of his minor thought-processes prompted him wryly. "What's this?" she asked curiously holding up the mask to him as he stepped up to her with the huge plate on one of his palms, holding it like a professional waiter would.

He took the mask out of her hand and put it back where it had sat on the shelf: "Personal property."

She looked at him pouting: "I'm sorry Mr. Security Guard, I didn't know I was in a freaking museum with a no-touch policy!" she taunted just as she spotted another item that caught her attention "Wow, this looks just like Sherlock Holmes' hat!" she said as she took off the hat from the shelf.

"Please, put it down." he asked starting to lose his patience.

She turned the hat around in her hand then cheerfully put it on: "How do I look? Just like a detective, aren't I?" she almost giggled, and Data had a feeling that she might have had something other than synthehol that evening in Ten Forward with Doctor Crusher.

"Could you just do as I asked and put it down? And take your dinner to eat it elsewhere?"

"Elsewhere is here." she declared and took off the hat. Data had a fleeting moment of hope that maybe she would leave his stuff alone eventually, just to be dashed again as Emma said: "Let me see how it looks on you!" She reached out to put the hat on his head, but he stepped back to avoid her touch. However, she didn't give up and reached out again, this time in such an uncoordinated fashion that she knocked the plate off of his palm. He caught it in one motion while catching two of the flying sandwiches with his other hand, but even his android speed could not stop half of the sandwiches landing on his floor.

"Oh, shit..." she winced and looked at him just to see his indignant expression "We still have the other half to eat." she told him in mock-innocence, and bit her lower lip stifling a smile. As she saw that humour would not be enough here, she rolled her eyes: "Alright, alright, I'm cleaning it up, neat-freak..." she added quietly.

Data shut his eyes as he was looking for a method in the chip's databanks to somehow quench his irritation and found that humans often used counting to a number in the ten-thousand range for that purpose. As he finished counting to 46000 in 0.046 second and was still irritated, he officially declared the method useless for an android. He opened his eyes to see what she was doing and was appalled to see that his cat was happily munching - along with Emma - from the floor. The latter looked up into his eyes: "Lucky you're a neat-freak, they're perfectly edible. Not even cat hair on it, which is a miracle, to be honest. Hey!" she yelled at him as he put the plate down and picked Spot up in one motion.

"She is on a diet! She must not eat anything, let alone these..." he pointed with his forefinger to the food.

"Poor soul!" Emma looked at Spot meowing in Data's arms desperately to get back to the unexpected supper "Is Daddy starving you?" Emma pouted mockingly, then frowned at Data "Relax, hard-ass, I eat low-carb food, she won't gain any weight from this."

"I do not care! She cannot eat anything! And you are expected to leave at once!"

"Oh, come on, you said you liked my sandwich in the afternoon." she told him while packing the food back on the plate "Why don't you just give in and have some late supper with me?" she asked finishing the clean-up task. She gazed up at him with the eyes of a puppy dog begging to be adopted.

He was not moved. He bent down and taking her arm, he pulled her to her feet, with the plate still in her hand, and with Spot still in his "I think I have mentioned not having a particular desire to consume food at this moment. So if you would be so kind..." he told her all the while pushing her towards the door by the arm.

"Oh, come on, Deadpan." she tried to get free, but he didn't let her "I'm not leaving... you'll need to carry me... hey, stop pushing me, I..." as she realized that she stood no chance against his strength, she changed tactics "Okay, I'm leaving just let go! Let me go, Deadpan, it hurts!" she lied looking at him wincing, and he instantly let her go.

He also let Spot go, who by this time made it quite clear that holding her against her wishes was not one of the misdeeds she could forgive her staff. She instantly ran under the bed, and Data looked after her worried as he heard her hissing in annoyance.

By the time however, he looked back at Emma, she was not standing next to him - she was lying on his floor!

"Wha-What ARE you doing?!" he asked shocked.

She gazed up at him blinking a few times from the light coming from the ceiling: "Told you... You'll need to carry me..." she mumbled. At the corner of his eye, he noticed she had put the plate on his desk - at least it was high enough for Spot not to reach it.

He looked down at her for a few moments contemplating. He needed to get rid of her! This was ridiculous!

"Lieutenant." he told her on a low voice "I am ordering you to leave my quarters. Right now."

She laughed out loud at this: "And if not, what will you do? Court martial me?" she chuckled on "Hmm... I would never have thought you would be in for these kinky stuff, but well a sly bunny rabbit might jump longer than you would expect. Come here, and court martial me! Sir!" she babbled putting her wrists together above her head and then laughed seeing his completely baffled expression.

"I-I will log this incident in your service record with a reprimand. I have never taken such measures against anybody, however your disobedience require me to do so. You do not leave me any other choice."

She looked straight into his eyes: "And do I not deserve a little leeway, Mr. Commander, Sir? Not even a teeny-tiny little one?" she asked pouting and holding up her hand showing up her thumb and forefinger.

This, on the other hand, did move him. He gazed away with a remorseful expression. Yes, yes, she did. She deserved her leeway. She caught him when he was about to fall into a dark abyss and then saved him from having to explain it to her or to anyone else. And here he was threatening her with using discipline on her. And why? Because she had brought him dinner. He bowed his head.

She suddenly leapt to her feet and taking him completely off-guard, she put her arms around his neck saying: "You are an ungrateful bastard, but not such a horrible person as you are regarding yourself just now!" then simply pressed her lips against his cheek with a loud smack. She let him go just as quickly not even looking into his eyes and turned to his desk where she had left the sandwiches.

Data stood there petrified. At the periphery of his consciousness, he was surprised to find that the workload on his positronic net was over his desired 70 percent. He was still running a diagnostic on his sexuality program to understand why it activated itself without him wanting it to when he was alone with Emma on the holodeck. He was still feeling the repercussions of his powerful flashback in the afternoon. And on top of all of this, here was Emma. She... she must have been crazy! There could have been no other explanation! No other human being has ever acted in such an outrageous way before anywhere in his vicinity. Her use of the language alone required him to run several queries parallel in his databanks about sarcasm, irony and humour. Let alone her behaviour. Lying down on the floor of your senior officer's quarters in the middle of the night?!

And here was this kiss. He had been kissed in this manner before. Jenna D'Sora kissed him on the cheek before kissing him on the lips in the torpedo bay. This thought suddenly scared him. That relationship ended in a way that left him with no desire to ever pursue anything like that as long as he had not possessed any emotions. And even after having the chip installed... the thought-process rooting in this particular event in his life remained with him, telling him that he was not... evolved enough to even think about having a relationship yet.

He felt he had no other option, he had to clarify this situation. He stepped up to her, where she was taking a sandwich from the plate on his desk and looked at her expectantly: "Why did you do this?"

Emma chuckled then shrugged, but did not dare to look into his eyes: "Because I'm tipsy. Unlucky you, I might add. We would already be in your bed naked, if I had had two more shots." then frowned confused and stepped away from him gazing into his other room "Hey, wait a minute there! You said you don't need sleep. And you still have a bed - hmm... you ARE a naughty boy, aren't you?" she chuckled squeezing as big a mouthful as she could into her mouth and gazing innocently into his eyes from behind the sandwich.

Data followed her gaze then looked back at her embarrassed and quickly tried to clear this one up as well: "I do not require sleep, but I do possess a dream program. Because of that, I attempt to emulate the human sleeping activity as accurately as possible."

She opened her mouth to answer then chuckled again: "I don't even wanna pretend that I understand."

And then there was the other matter to clarify: "Judging by the fact that you gave me a kiss, your intention is to start a relationship with me. So I have to warn you that I do not wish to pursue a relationship with you or with anybody else." he told her now really wound-up by the whole embarrassing situation.

But Emma just laughed: "Oh, god, Deadpan! Just chill out, okay? I gave you a peck, not a wedding-ring! I..." suddenly, she was the one who seemed shy and embarrassed "Ya know... I... I kinda like you... That's all..." she told him not having enough self-control to stop herself from touching the front of his uniform with one finger.

"You like me." he repeated incredulously "You do not give the impression that you like me, when you are teasing me on the holodeck."

She turned her face upwards rolling her eyes and shrugged "Oh, come ooon..." she sighed.

"And you pointed out that all people intimidate you. Am I to infer that I am not having that unfortunate effect on you?" he asked now really curious.

She again laughed, but this time, it was forced, then keeping her gaze only on her finger drawing slow patterns on his uniform front, she replied silently: "You most of all."

He gaped at her surprised: "But... I do not understand." he whispered shaking his head still confused.

She chuckled and started to draw her patterns ever lower on his chest: "I eh... I'm afraid of you... aaall of the time... because I like you. It gives you a certain power over me. And that frightens me. It frightens me a lot more than your court martialing me or disciplining me bla-bla... I-I am even scared shitless telling you this actually. And ...and if I hadn't had that goddamn green thing mixed with another goddamn red thing in Ten Forward today... you probably would never ever learn about this ever, you know? You would just think: she's crazy, she hates everybody, hates me - and you could go on hating me. And then you wouldn't have any power..." her hand was suddenly taken by his large pale hand. She slowly raised her eyes to meet his golden gaze, and her breath was caught in her throat just by having him so close.

Just as Emma reached half of what she had to say, the diagnostics running on Data's sexuality program finished, automatically putting it back online without prompting him about it. And suddenly, his thought-processes started to take very interesting curves. He was watching her lowered gaze as she was following the movement of her finger on his chest then his abdomen. And that finger was wandering ever closer to his waistline... exactly where that warmth was rushing again. Only this time with multiplied speed and impact. His conscious thought-processing was somehow pushed into the background. He just took her hand and leaned close to her face making her look up into his eyes.

He slid his hand around her tiny waist, then without thinking slid it to her hip - he realized hazily that he always wanted to do this, to follow the sensual feminine curves of her body: tiny waist, broad hips. She sucked in a breath at this, and he felt her body temperature rise as he pulled her hips gently but firmly against his. She must have felt his sudden arousal as well!

She slid her other hand - sandwich landing on the floor - up his chest. His face was so close! His breath was on her wet lips. She needed to feel his skin under her fingers, so she reached up and gently stroked his cheek smiling in wonder at the unique sensation. She pressed herself even closer to him, and he responded by holding her close circling her waist. A small moan escaped her parted lips, and she brought her thumb over his lips with a feather like touch. Oh, his lips were just so...

Oh, HER lips were just so... The taste of her mouth came vividly into his mind. He needed to feel her taste again! Right now! He closed the distance, and just as their lips were about to touch, his combadge went off.

"Cortez to Data" they heard and shrank away from each other, as if they were two little sparrows stirred up by a cat.

Data shook his head slightly and pressed his combadge: "Data here." his voice was slightly lower than he had intended.

"Commander... eh... I was just wondering, Sir... Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes, I am, Lieutenant, why... oh..." he realized the time.

"You were due on the Bridge at 2300 hours, Sir..."

It was true, he should have been on duty for eight minutes now "I apologize for my delay, Lieutenant. I am on my way to relieve you. Data out."

Emma stood there seemingly quite confused wringing her hands. She couldn't look into his eyes: "Eh... yeah, I ...You have to go... I-I go..." she pointed to his door with her thumb.

He took a reluctant step towards her then stopped: "Yeah..." his intended 'Yes' dying in a sigh.

She nodded and turned. As she went towards the door, she almost missed it, nearly hitting the doorpost first. Then she was gone. His eyes wandered back to his desk, and seeing the silly sandwiches, he just couldn't help himself: a small smile curved his lips upward.

He quickly took one of them, and biting into it, he threw away the rest in the replication unit's disposal slot. And then was on his way to the Bridge. To Spot's great satisfaction, he forgot to collect the half-eaten sandwich Emma had dropped before.


	13. Chapter 13

_He is waking slowly in his own bed. The sun is shining delightfully on him, and He feels a soft body next to his, the feeling makes him smile._

_"Are you awake?" He asks on a low voice._

_"Mhhmmm..."_

_"Don't turn over!" He asks her and chuckles in wonder "I don't think I can say this to your face. I know it sounds corny but... I've never felt this way before..."_

_"I'm sitting on top of the world!" he starts singing cheerfully. "Just rollin' along, just rollin' along_

_I'm quittin' the blues of the world_   
_Just singin' a song, just singin' a song_

_Glory, Hallelujah, I just phoned the parson_   
_"Hey, Par, get ready to call"_   
_Just like Humpty Dumpty_   
_I'm gettin' ready to fall_

_I'm sitting on top of the world_   
_Just rollin' along, oh, rollin' along"_

_"You know what I mean?" He asks finally looking over to the girl. And to his complete dismay, a stranger replies:_

_"I couldn't agree with you more!"_

_Yelling out, He falls off the bed: "Who are you?! Wha-What's going on here?!"_

_"Don't play coy with me, lover boy, you didn't have any problem last night!" she tells him taunting._

_"Last night?"_

_"Mmhmm"_

_"A-am I hallucinating?" he asks completely stunned._

_"I don't think so..."_

_Then suddenly, they hear a third voice - the voice of his real love:_

_"Wake up, wake up, wake up, sleepy head!" She sings._

_"Oh, no..."_

_"Get up, get up, get out of bed..."_

_"No, no, no! Don't come in!"_

_It's too late, She steps inside and sees the stranger collect her bag. She gaps at them in disbelief._

_The stranger smiles at him: "Thanks for this well time, pally!" then turns to her "Sugar! You have a terrific guy here!" and off she goes._

_"Yeah, I thought so..." She answers, voice breaking._

_"I-I just woke up, and there she was..." He tried to explain, but it's plain that it's hopeless._

_She turns and walks out on him. He catches her up in the living room:_

_"Baby, please! Please! Say you forgive me! Say anything!" He is desperate, and as She turns, seeing her tearfilled eyes, He knows that all is lost._

_"I'll never forget you..." she starts to sing on a low voice._

_"I'll never forget you._   
_I'll never forget how we promised one day,_   
_To love one another forever that way._   
_We said we'd never say, 'Good-bye.'_

_But that was long ago._   
_Now you've forgotten, I know._   
_No use to wonder why._   
_Let's say farewell with a sigh._   
_Let love die._

_But we'll go on living,_   
_Our own way of living._   
_So you take the high road and I'll take the low._   
_It's time that we parted,_   
_It's much better so._   
_But kiss me as you go._   
_Good-bye."_

_She finishes, and silence descends on them before She tells him: "See you around..."_

_"Yeah..." He breaths as He watches the door closing behind her "This is a NIGHTMARE!" He says and the word reverberates in the air for a few seconds._

* * *

Beverly watched them acting out the scene still with padds in their hands to read the script from (except for Data, who didn't need such an aid). Sonya's acting became visibly more enthusiastic, while Data and Emma seemed to be somehow uncomfortable with each other. It was nothing serious, probably someone who'd see them for the first time wouldn't even notice. But she could see that something was slightly out of place.

"...Sugar, you have a terrific guy here!" Sonya read, and Emma saw that she looked at her with a satisfied grin as she walked out. Yeah, you've managed to execute the biggest revenge ever: to seduce the love of my CHARACTER in a PLAY! Score! - Ah, how much she wanted to actually utter the words! She felt she had to bite her tongue off...

She looked up at Data "Yeah, I thought so..." her voice was thin, barely above a whisper.

Beverly called out: "Em, nobody will hear you! Speak up a little! You should be sad, but still be heard."

"Sure, sorry." she told Bev and turned back to Data with the same lost expression she had before "Yeah, I thought so..."

"Better..." Beverly mumbled - but still not quite right.

Emma walked out to the living room part of the set, Data looked after her taken aback - he was supposed to say one more sentence before her walking out on him.

Beverly massaged her forehead annoyed "Em..." Emma turned "Would you wait until Data finishes his line?"

"Ahssshiit!" Emma put her face in her palm for a moment "I'm so sorry." Beverly had to stifle a laugh at this as Emma walked back to stand opposite Data.

"I thought so..." she said again without any feeling, only giving him his cue.

Data was taken aback by this for a moment then answered on the same flat tone "I just woke up and there she was."

Beverly rolled her eyes "Guys, come on!" she climbed up on the stage "What's with you today?" she turned to Data "You will lose her, be a bit more desperate about it."

"Yes, Doctor. I will make another attempt."

"No, let's start from the beginning of the prose part. Sonya..." Bev looked back at the seats, where Sonya was sitting with a small smile on her lips.

"Sure!" she jumped up on the stage. Emma walked out with a painful expression, and they started again. This time, they managed to get to the end of it without any glitches, but their performance was flat and lifeless, and Beverly had the impression that Emma kept staring at her padd even when she didn't need to, just to avoid looking up at Data. Data, on the other hand, went back to his wordless contribution from the beginning of the rehearsal process. And she knew that they were not going anywhere that day, though they had over an hour more left of the session, it these two wouldn't resolve their problems.

"Alright, guys, let's just call it an afternoon." she called.

"Ohthankgooood..." Emma breathed looking up at the ceiling.

"Why? The scene is far from perfect." Sonya put in "Shouldn't we develop it fully?"

"Yes, Sonya, however I have a patient to check on in sickbay." Bev lied smiling kindly, and Emma was grateful for it. She was aware that her red-head friend was essentially saving HER butt today. She was a mess...

"Oh..." Sonya nodded seemingly disappointed.

Bev looked over at Data and Emma: "Maybe you could practise the dancing parts we had so far, so the time wouldn't be lost. Okay?" she asked smiling like a match-maker.

Emma's relief turned into a cramp in her stomach as she looked over at Data. She was surprised to see that he looked at her with an unsure expression as well.

"Yes, doctor." he answered finally on his usual silent tone.

Bev put her arms around Sonya's shoulder: "I wanted to ask something about the outfits you were designing..." she started, and Emma and Data heard their voices until the door closed behind them.

They remained alone. Emma was waiting for the ground to open up under her - in fact was praying for it.

"Computer," she heard Data's voice "Start waltz, please." they had one longer piece of music to which they usually practised waltzing, and the computer complied knowing already which piece of music he meant.

He stepped up to her from the side and held his hand out. She looked at his hand and put hers into his palm. They started dancing, but she was just not able to look up into his eyes.

After a few minutes of tense dancing, he finally got the courage to start a conversation: "May I ask you a question of a personal nature?"

The cramp in Emma's stomach tightened even more up: "Sure." she tried to sound as nonchalant as she could.

"Why are you not looking up at me?"

She raised her head sharply at this gaping. His expression was... only curious - maybe a little worried.

She bowed her head again: "Ah... I... Because I'm ...I'm very ashamed of myself..." she admitted on a dry whisper. She glanced up at him again, and this time, she saw confusion on his features. She again turned her head down "Because of last night..."

She stepped out of his arms, and he let her. They stood a good meter from each other as Emma put her hands over her face: "It's all hazy you know... I have memories of... Oh my god, did I actually lie down on your floor?" she asked peering out from behind her palms.

"Yes." he answered simply.

"Oh gooood... And I ate a sandwich from the floor, and I kept messing around in your stuff and... Do you actually have an orange cat? Or I just hallucinated that one?" she looked at him suddenly unsure.

"Spot." he nodded.

She sighed and shook her head putting her face back in her palms. She did have memories of some other activities as well, among which almost kissing him on the lips was one that most vividly came to mind. When she was drunk, her hunting instinct always took the better of her. And she remembered telling him... Ohgoood...

She went on on a thin voice: "And I told you things that, oh please just forget it, I'm so sorry... I swear this will never happen again."

"I am incapable to forget." he told her on a flat tone.

She took her hands from her face and looked at him pleading. "Okay, then just... can you just pretend that it never happened?"

Data gazed away as he remembered another woman telling him that something intimate that had indeed transpired between the two of them, did not happen, meaning that they have to forget it, and pretend that the events never took place. At that time, he was just confused. Looking back at the events, when he finally had emotions, it actually hurt. Humans had a strange way of doing and saying things that they actually did not want to do or say. And most of the time, they were unaware of the capacity of damage they could cause with this kind of behaviour.

"You mean that you never actually meant your words." he concluded. Emma's jaw dropped. She was just lost for words at this. He went on looking ahead with a listless expression: "It is not you who has to apologize, Ms. Jones. I am the one to blame for your feeling ashamed of yourself. You confided me with an intimate confession expressing an attraction obviously caused by your confused state of being. And I did not react in the way a responsible man should in such a situation. I almost abused your vulnerable state causing you now to feel ashamed. I understand that..."

But Emma stepped to him and grabbed his upper arms: "Stop this! Stop right now!" she told him on a low but firm voice. Data looked at her confused, and she felt a catch in her throat all of a sudden as she looked straight into his eyes. "I-I am ashamed because I managed to make an ass of myself yesterday. I got drunk, and if I get drunk... I act like an idiot." she told him shaking her head angry with herself "And I'm telling you to forget it, because it's not how I want you to think of me. ...Exactly because I meant every freaking word I uttered last night." There it was. She was completely honest ...and exposed and scared and ashamed... she took a slow step away from him letting him go and bowed her head feeling her cheeks burn from shame - and of excitement.

Data watched her a moment longer processing the information - trying to apply the offered explanation to the previous situation he was reminded to by this current one, and deciding that he needed more time to get to a conclusion about it. Then he realized that judging from Emma's posture and body language, this confession must have been a very hard one for her to make. He was looking for a way to disembarrass her, but after contemplating a verbal reassurance, he decided that this was a time he could use his observation that acts always had a more profound effect on humans than words.

He stepped up to her and placing his hands gently on her shoulders, he leaned close to her face and gave her a kiss on the cheek mimicking her actions of the previous night. Then let her go, took one step back and waited for her reaction.

Emma gaped up at him for a long moment then frowned confused: "What was that for?" she asked on a faint voice.

"Yesterday, you did the same thing. I merely attempted to express the same emotion that you have stated to be behind your act of the previous night by emulating the same behaviour." he explained, then as he saw that she just stood there petrified looking at him dumbfounded, he went on "I like you." And it was true. Among the scale of emotions she triggered from irritation to attraction, he realized he somehow got to like her... He found no logic in it, so he just played it on his chip's illogical ways of generating emotions, seemingly almost random at times.

He then frowned for a brief moment comparing the two acts of affection "I seemed to fail in producing the same sound you made, when you conducted the same act of affection yesterday."

And it broke the ice for Emma. She couldn't help but laugh at this. Then smiled at him gently "You mean the smacking sound?"

"Yes." he nodded "How do you produce that?"

Emma laughed again then shrugged: "You just round your lips like this..." she showed "and make the sound."

Data frowned "Like this?" he tried to imitate what she did, but failed rather spectacularly with a funny grimace on his face.

Emma laughed "No! You have to..." she stepped over to him and held his lips between her fingers gently pressing the two sides together. She laughed again seeing his expression then let him go, and this time, he laughed with her. She gaped at this amazed:

"No way! Deadpan is laughing! And nobody is here to witness this?! I can't believe it!" she told him still chuckling.

He frowned confused: "I thought since you told me that you like me, you would stop calling me names." he told her on a slightly hurt voice.

She smiled guiltily: "You cannot turn chalk into cheese... at least not in a day." then took his hand in hers firmly while putting her other arm around his neck in the classic dancing position "And besides, since you cannot seem to shake off that odd habit of calling me on my last name, I would like to point out that it drives me to nuts probably as much as my calling you names does you." she told him as he put his arm around her, and they started to dance again.

"I prefer the more formal style of language, Ms. Jones." he explained and span her around then took her into his arms again.

"Yeah, I noticed. No 'gonna', 'wanna', not even a 'can't'."

"I prefer to use no verbal contractions. I sometimes am unsure that whatever I need to communicate will be comprehensible for humans, so I want to do my best at avoiding misunderstandings. Formal language helps in guaranteeing that."

"Mmmhhmmm... do you call anybody on the first name at all?"

"Yes. My best friend, Geordi. ...And my cat."

"That doesn't count! She doesn't have a last name!"

"That is correct... So it is Geordi then."

Another spin, and this time, when he took her into his arms again, she snuggled closer: "I suppose it would be a bit more comfortable to play lovers, if you could cut back on the formalities a bit. Don't you think?"

Data looked at her confused: "Since playing a character has nothing to do with how I feel or think about you in real life, I do not see how our real life verbal interactions could help in developing the relationship between our characters."

Emma gaped at this stunned "Data!" she stopped dancing again "How can you say such a thing?" she asked on a reprimanding voice, but didn't step out of his embrace. He looked at her startled fearing that he just said something terrible without realizing it. She shook her head confused and held onto him tighter: "We have chemistry, Deadpan, don't you realize it? Don't you feel it? In every one of our movements, every touch, every look. Why do you think we click in the scenes?" she smiled almost tenderly "It's sweet and pure. And even if neither of us wants to act upon it ever, the attraction is there. You just told me... and I told you last night." then the confused expression returned "And you are telling me you don't use that in building your character?"

"I-I... that would warrant that I use my emotions for creating the character. However... when I did that, you were the one pointing out to me that my performance was lifeless. So I changed my strategy and fell back to my skills of creating a character before I had emotions."

"Before you had emotions?"

"I utilized my emotion-chip only two years ago."

Emma blinked for a few moments to digest this information then looked back at him again with questions in her eyes: "So what do you do instead?" she asked silently.

"I research similar characters and combine and emulate their behaviour."

"I see..." she slowly let him go, and he watched her walking slowly lazily around the stage. He suddenly became aware of a tight grip in his chest feeling terribly unsure of himself. What was she thinking about? Was she angry at him? Was she disappointed?

She then stopped at the foot of the bed and turned back to him: "Acting is so much more than just emulating behaviour or mimicking gestures. Technique is a great thing, you are right, you can pretend to be anything. I could break down and sob real tears for you right here. Out of technique similar to what you use. But acting, real acting is not that, Deadpan! Imagine it like... The characters are like empty shells. You have to fill them with who you are. With your emotions, your experiences, your desires, your dreams, your whole being. And most of all: your imagination. And something new, something great will be born."

"You are talking about method acting."

"Not exactly." she shook her head stepping back to him "I prefer using my imagination together with all of who I am. And that is not the exact definition of method acting. Method acting draws only on life-experiences. But you cannot know all life-experiences, now can you? How do you play dead, if you have never been dead before?" she went on slowly circling him "Your performance might have been lifeless because you had no real-life experiences to tap into. Alright. That's not a sin!" she looked at him finally completing her circle around him "What you can do here is to work with what you have." she took his hand suddenly seemingly very determined and pulled him over to the bed.

"Take the last scene as an example. You have never been caught 'in flagranti' before. Fine. But you can imagine it, can't you? You never had a real hard, heart-breaking break up before that would tear your soul and body apart. But you can imagine that as well, can you not?" she looked at him searching his eyes.

"I-I suppose..." he stammered suddenly embarrassed, though he didn't quite understand why.

She smiled "I show you! and then suddenly reached out to bring his face down to hers. After an initial wave of surprise, he responded without much consideration by sliding his arms around her waist as she talked "You are attracted to me in real life, right? Imagine..." she took a shaky breath as she held his face in her palms and slowly stroked his cheeks with her thumbs "Imagine you just had me. It was mind-blowing." she whispered and gently touched her nose to his blowing on his parted lips "It was everything you ever imagined to be the best night of your entire life. You can imagine that, right?" she asked now on a whisper gazing into his eyes.

He swallowed hard and was desperately trying to put all of the sensations her touch and words were creating out of his mind, so he could pay full attention to what she was explaining. But her soft body was pressed tightly against his, her voice was sultry in his ears, her mouth was less then an inch away, her breath was on his lips, and she held his face so gently but so firmly - and he knew she was experiencing the same powerful sensations.

"I... I want to kiss you right now..." he blurted out in a sigh.

She smiled "Yeah me too." she breathed and leaned her head backwards with a sigh exposing the skin of her neck.

He was not able to think straight anymore. The majority of his resources were consumed by his sexuality program, and his conscious thought-processes once again faded into background. He lowered his lips to her skin and kissed her throat as he held her firmly against him. She sucked in a breath at the sensation, and her hands came up to the back of his head, her fingers tangled into his hair as she held his head to her. She raised her head slowly as he kissed his way from her throat to her ear slowly. Her eyes closed instinctively, and he gently took her earlobe between his lips and grazed it with his lower teeth. "Ah..." she moaned in pleasure. Then he released her earlobe and gently caressed the curve of her ear with the tip of his nose. Her eyes flew open at this just to close on their own accord again. It was the most sensual thing she had ever... oh...

She then suddenly pushed him away and stepped out of his embrace. He took a step toward her shocked, but she didn't let him touch her again, took two more steps away from him until her back was at the wall. She was gasping with desire, and he felt his heart was racing in his chest: come back! please! he wanted to beg her but just didn't seem to be able to form the words themselves.

"It's bad, isn't it?" she asked on a husky, shaking voice.

Data just stood there confused only gaping at her.

"We both want it, and now it's taken away. You may not touch me. Ever again. It's over. No matter how wonderful it was. It's gone." she explained, and it took him another moment to start to comprehend what she was doing. So this is how a real break up felt!

She said her line this time flawlessly, on a heart-broken voice: "Yeah, I thought so."

He took a reluctant step towards her wanting nothing but to touch her: "I-I just woke up and there she was..." he heard his own voice saying his line on a hopeless whisper.

Her eyes filled with tears, and she strode out to the living room. He ran after her and caught her at the door. He turned her to him, and this time his face reflected pure desperation: "Baby, please! Please! Say you forgive me! Say anything!" he begged. But as he saw her tears rolling down her cheeks, he slowly let her go.

"I'll never forget you..." Emma whispered the first line of her song. Then silence descended over them for a long moment.

Emma was the first to get a grip on reality. She wiped her tears and smiled up at him wistfully still under the influence of their scene: "I guess..." she said on a small voice "...I guess you now get my point."

Data nodded his assent but still did not feel capable of speaking. He had done a LOT of scenes with or without emotions in his life. But never ever had it been so powerful. So real. Never ever had it made such an all-consuming impact on him. As if he was actually living that one desperate moment his character had to go through!

"I suppose I managed to impress you." she smiled now a bit calmer then turned and started to walk out "Come on, Deadpan, let's have something to eat!"

He followed her without a question, he was so utterly preoccupied, he was almost in a trance-like state. They walked on the corridor next to each other in silence, then stepped into the turbolift.

"Deck 10." she called when the doors closed, and this was the point where Data's mind defogged enough to realize where they were going.

"Belay that order, Computer." he called, and she looked at him questioningly.

He shook his head "I do not wish to go to Ten Forward." he seemed somehow lost to Emma.

She frowned confused "Do you have any place else in mind?"

My quarters. Your quarters. Neither of the options seemed right enough to voice it aloud. He did not want to meet anybody. At least not anybody else. He again felt like being alone. Only this time, being alone with Emma sounded the closest to his desires. If he had at least one processing thread that displayed a remnant of his clarity of thought, he would have been shocked by the desires she triggered in him. His sexuality program was still claiming most of his resources, and he was still not finished with analysing the scene they had just performed. He looked at her desperate for a moment then bowed his head.

Emma gazed at him and took him gently by the wrist. He locked his gaze with hers confused, and she stroked his wrist gently with her thumb the same way she did when he had that horrible flashback.

"It's okay. You don't have to explain anything." she told him smiling gently. He blinked at her as if waking from a dream. "If you want to go home, it's alright."

"I want to... go home with you!" he blurted suddenly. His mind was flooded with memories of her. The feel of her in his arms. The feel of her skin under his lips. The feel of her breath on his lips. Her taste in his mouth.

She looked at him stunned, and the next moment, he crushed her in a tight embrace. He kissed her neck burying his face in her long hair and inhaled her fragrance deeply. All his senses filled with her, and he didn't think he could let her go.

She sighed in pleasure at the feel of his lips again on her skin, and she instinctively returned the tight embrace. She stroked his hair tenderly. Then slowly, gently took his face in her palms and pushed him away just enough to look into his eyes.

He was only looking at her lips, and he bent down to kiss her on the mouth, but she put her thumbs on his lips and stopped him:

"No!... No, please don't!" she whispered breathlessly. Then slowly moved her thumbs away and stroked his cheek. She could very well see that he was overwhelmed by all of the sudden sensations they felt in the holodeck. His gaze seemed unfocused and a shudder ran through him as she held him so close. She bowed her head enough to rest her forehead on his and closed her eyes. It was not easy to let him go. But she had to. This was not right.

"Yesterday..." she started slowly, her voice was still only above a whisper "You told me something, remember? ... You told me, you don't want a relationship. Is it not true any more?"

He raised his head an inch to look into her eyes. He had no idea what to answer. He needed to bring his conscious thoughts in the foreground to find a proper response. But right at the moment, the only thoughts that had any meaning in his mind were all about how she felt in his arms or under his lips.

She smiled knowingly: "I know. It's alright." she whispered, and she couldn't resist to comb her fingers through his hair once more "I... I don't want a relationship either." she told him silently.

Neither of them knew how they got themselves to let go of each other. But they did. They stood there in silence, opposite one another, only half a meter apart, looking straight into each other's eyes.

She sighed grimly: "It's ...it's just not the right time. For either of us..." she shook her head apologetically.

"You are married." it suddenly dawned on him. How could he have forgotten THAT?!

She nodded "I'm married." then shook her head trying to explain "It's not that I'm still in love with him or anything. It's... It's been over for years now. It's only a legal thing... The divorce has already been filed, I'm just waiting for the court to say it's legally over too. But... I won't lie to you, Data, it's an ugly story. My husband is..." she shook her head and gazed down helplessly. Before he could act upon the urge to hold her again, she looked back up at him "I-I don't want you to get involved. And you don't want to get involved either. You have your own issues. And you have your reasons for not wanting a relationship."

Data shook his head as slowly the grip of his urges loosened a tiny bit on his mind and body, and he finally managed to straighten some of his thoughts. "I am sorry." he said silently. He meant it. But had no idea why exactly.

Emma stepped up to him and smiled at him lovingly: "Oh, come on, Deadpan! Don't be silly." she whispered and tucked her hands into her pockets to keep herself from touching him. "If somebody is to blame, it's me. I'm the one with experience. I'm the one who is married. I'm the one seducing you, not the other way around! It's just... " she chuckled a bit regretfully "If you knew just how attractive a guy you are, you would probably be over your third marriage and a hundred one-nighters by now. You have... you have sex-appeal." she smiled up at him a delightful smile.

He shook his head confused and tried to clarify her misbelief: "My 'sex-appeal' is not my merit. My father made me in his own image. If you find me 'attractive', it is really him who deserves the credit."

She smiled stunned at his completely non-existent self-confidence: "Yeah... this is part of your charms..." she murmured only to herself. Then took a long liberating breath "Look." she shrugged "The chemistry we have... is great! We can make a very authentic performance with the help of it. But... let's try not to over-complicate this, okay? It would do no good to anybody." she shrugged again "I love dancing with you, and I like playing with you on stage too. Can we somehow stick to that?"

Data finally got a grip and managed to run her reasoning through his logical thought-processing units. And he found that she was completely correct. In every part of her reasoning. Her point about abiding by their original setup of being castmates only, concurred with his wishes also. Then why did his emotion-chip generate a stifling pain and a feeling of loss on listening to her words?

It was too confusing! Its prompting him to tell her that he wanted her despite the fact of her being married was scary! He was not a person who would act like this! Where was his ethical programming? Where was his clarity of thought?! And then there were their physical interactions... If he recalled just a fleeting memory of anything that had happened between the two of them, his sexuality program took over his will and made him do things he could never have imagined to do! It was just too much to handle! Enough of this! his thoughts shouted - I want my control back! I want it back! and he finally cocked his head, and turned his chip off!

It was gone. Instantly. All of it. Nothing remained, only her reasoning and his wish to be left alone. Confusion, bodily needs, and the desire to be loved was all gone! He had an understanding of all of it of course, and was aware of what was taking place between the two of them only a moment ago, but he was finally not under the pressure of all of this! With the chip offline, his sexuality program returned to be one of the many background processes he had. It was only under the chip's influence that it took such a huge role in his everyday life. Otherwise, if he did not consciously thought of it, he didn't even notice its presence.

It all happened in exactly one micro-second. Emma never had the chance to notice anything of it.

"Yes." he replied, and Emma had a strange, uncanny sensation listening to his voice "I would like that as well." he told her. His face unreadable.

"I'm really sorry, if I've hurt you with any of this." Emma said on a low voice. He seemed so strange.

"You have not hurt me, Ms. Jones. But I am grateful for your concern. I also hope that my unbecoming behaviour has not caused you pain. And I also hope it did not damage our relation as fellow cast members." his voice lacked all color, all emotions.

Emma looked even more confused, but she just couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong: "Right." she whispered "No, you have not caused me pain. I'm fine with all of this. If you are."

"Perfectly fine, Ms. Jones." he nodded and turned towards the door "Deck 10, Deck 2." he called, and they got under way.

They got to her destination, and as the doors slid open, she turned to him: "See you tomorrow, Deadpan." she told him smiling gently and couldn't stop herself from touching his arm.

"See you, Ms. Jones." he told her a little flinching away from her touch. And she was gone.

And there was nothing! Nothing! Her touch didn't create that rush of sexual urges in his mind and body this time. He could think straight. He was himself again. He walked back to his quarters.

Spot was meowing desperately at her plate.

"No, Spot, you had your portion for one day. No more food today. Doctor's orders!" he told her and patting her briefly on the back, he just sat down at his desk. The cat followed him and tried to climb up into his lap. But this time, he resisted: "No, Spot, no climbing up. Be a good cat and go play with your yarn." After some failed attempts at persuading him, Spot finally gave up and went back to the sleeping area. Data's lips curved upward in a small smile. Things WERE a lot easier like this.

There was one final test he had to make. He closed his eyes and imagined the face of the Borg Queen. It appeared, but no other memories came with it as it usually happened. It was just a memory, not something that had any control over his life.

He opened his eyes and made a decision "I will not turn it on. Ever again!" he whispered to the silence.


	14. Chapter 14

Emma walked into Ten Forward, and if she wanted to be honest with herself, she felt horrible. The look on Data's face as they said goodbye was just... The word deadpan couldn't even begin to describe it. She knew he closed up again, just the way he was when she first met him. He had been sooo confused, he clang to her in the lift as if never wanting to let her go. And she did want to hold him close! But it was just too much, too quickly... 'Sometimes it happens this way.' she heard his character's voice in her head. Yes, sometimes it did, but the timing couldn't have been worse. Ah, I just confused him.

She looked around in the crowded room. Bev was nowhere to be seen. Her friends, on the other hand, were sitting in the corner. There was the therapist, Deanna, her love-interest, the guy with the beard, but she just couldn't think of his name right at the moment, and the blind engineer guy. She sighed. Second best option. She walked up to them and felt the familiar tightness in her stomach when faced with strangers. She got to their table, and the conversation stopped and they looked up at her.

"Hi, Emma!" Deanna greeted her smiling - sensing her timidity.

"Hello. Sorry to disturb you but..."

"Not at all!" Will Riker grinned at her and pulled a chair out for her "Please, have a seat!"

Deanna was surprised to sense a moment of resentment and even terror coming from Emma at Will's overwhelming invitation. Outwardly, she remained calm and polite though: "No, thank you. Counsellor, could I have a word with you? In private."

Deanna knew she couldn't send her away, not even if she was as tired as she was that day. In fact, she hadn't even wanted to come to Ten Forward that evening, just wanted to go to bed early. It seemed all her plans were crushing tonight.

"Sure, Emma." she answered and stood up.

"Thank you!"

They walked away toward the entrance, and Will couldn't help himself to check out Emma's curves from behind.

"Not bad." he grunted leaning towards Geordi.

"Hmm..." the engineer nodded then gave a small grin to Will "Didn't Doctor Crusher say something about her friend being married?"

Will shrugged slightly and turned up his palms innocently: "And why should I be aware of that? Is it written on her uniform front?"

Geordi chuckled "Not that I could see... However, I'm sure it IS written in her records."

"Whoa, you're taking me for a stalker? Do you think the right thing to do when meeting an attractive woman is to check her records out?" Will asked in mock-disbelief then laughed softly "If this is how you conduct your lady-affairs, I'm not surprised that you're still single!" he teased him insolently.

"Ah, pot calls the kettle black! You are single too! And no, being very-very 'special friends' with Counsellor Troi does NOT count!"

"Maybe it does not count, but it's sure as hell more fun than being 'special friends' with... no one." Will finished his sentence with the more polite version from the two he could think of - the other one being 'your hand'. He took a sip of his drink to stifle his grin.

Geordi just shook his head in frustration, while Beverly entered and walked up to them smiling.

"Hi!" she greeted them, sitting next to them, where Deanna had sat before.

"Hi, your little friend was here." Will told her with a curious expression "And stole Deanna for a chat."

"Oh?"

"Seems she doesn't have many friends around. Maybe you should introduce us to her, so she could broaden her circle of acquaintances." Will added grinning.

Bev looked at him with suspicion on her features "And how come that I question your motifs behind this suggestion?" she asked in mock-confusion.

"No clue." Will shrugged innocently taking another sip, and Beverly laughed at his insolence.

"Take it easy, Commander. You aren't her type." she waved.

"Oh, yeah? And just who exactly is her type then?" Will asked on a mock-hurt voice.

"Well..." she smiled mysteriously - maybe she shouldn't say this... but come on, this whole was so harmless "I think her type is rather someone with a pale face and yellow eyes."

The two guys gaped. "Data?" Geordi and Will asked in union totally incredulously "You mean they are seeing each other?" Geordi asked. It WAS beyond belief - and come on! that would mean that even Data could get a girlfriend sooner than he could! He was clumsy with girls, but Data was just hopeless! With or without chip! And yet...

Bev shook her head: "Mmm, no, no I don't think so. But... But there is something. You should see them dancing together. They just click."

"That's all?" Will gaped at her then chuckled and tried to look very serious at her "Well, Doctor. You ARE right. That's one hell of an intimate relationship. I really should be discouraged."

"Ah, you should see them..." she waved in frustration "Forget it! I was silly to bring it up..."

After another good hour of chatting, Geordi's combadge went off: "Data to La Forge."

They all looked at each other surprised. It was still early, he couldn't have been on duty, so it was nothing official. And he hadn't talked to Geordi or anybody apart from Beverly for over a month now.

Geordi pressed his badge: "La Forge here." he said on a slightly lower voice than he intended.

"Geordi, could I see you in my quarters?" Data's voice seemed a bit shaken, and it sent a chill up Chief Engineer's spine.

"Sure, on my way." he replied and closed the comlink. They looked at each other for a moment longer, but none of them could think of anything to say "I check him out." Geordi stood up and left.

* * *

"He did WHAT?!" Emma exclaimed. She had explained all that happened between her and Data the previous night and that afternoon. And she told Deanna how lost he seemed and then how closed up and inaccessible he became in one moment in the turbolift.

"He probably turned his emotion-chip off." Deanna told her again on a calm voice.

"I can't believe I heard that right! He can turn his emotions off?!"

Deanna nodded and turned up her palm "Yes, he can. He is always reluctant to do that. At least, this is what he told me earlier. Because the emotions would return with multiplied force, when he turns the chip back on. But sometimes he does that. As far as I understand, he doesn't do it very often."

Emma just sat there with her legs crossed, hugging herself and stared into nothing. She seemed small on Deanna's large couch, and the empath could sense that she was distressed. Deanna leaned closer to her and gently took her hand: "Believe me, you did nothing wrong. You might be part of his confusion but not its main cause."

Emma looked into her black eyes: "You know him a lot better than I do. You know he has some secret. Whenever I'm with him alone... I feel..." she smiled helplessly "I feel I just want to hug him and tell him that everything is gonna be okay." she pulled her hand away embarrassed "Stupid, isn't it? He would probably think I'm crazy. Not that he doesn't have all the reasons to do so already!"

"It's not a sin that you care about him. You will need to find a form of care that you both are comfortable with."

"Yeah, just tell this to my hunting instinct..." she grimaced. She shook her head lost "Why? Why am I doing this? Why can't I just..." she looked at Deanna determined to explain "If I meet a guy, who is a little bit lost, just like Data is now... I feel, I can't keep my hands off! It's like an instinct, a primal urge. Even if I know that I'm doing something wrong for both of us. Why? Why is that Counsellor?"

Deanna sighed - she really didn't want this to turn into a real therapy session, but it seemed there was no way out now: "I have told you, Emma. The key to your problem is control. He is lost, so you have the upper hand. He is inexperienced, you can form him to your own liking."

"That doesn't sound right at all."

"I didn't say anything about it being right or wrong. You have to understand that this should not be viewed in a scale of right and wrong. It's about how you work. Whether you want to change that is another matter. And it's up to you to decide. What we need to do is to understand why you need that control. Why is it so irresistible for you?"

"It ...it makes me feel safe."

"Does feeling safe have to be the only priority you have in every relationship?"

"It's difficult to answer that, Counsellor."

"It's not something that you have to answer today." Deanna smiled, and Emma suddenly realized that she had already occupied half an hour from the Counsellor's night.

"You are right. I'm sorry I took such a long time. I think I go home and let you go back to Ten Forward to your friends." she said shyly. She knew how therapists worked: no making friends, no after-hours sessions, just keep to the schedule. It gives security to both participants.

"Emma, this is really not about my time." Deanna smiled kindly "I just want you to think it over."

"Right." Emma nodded and stood.

Deanna followed her example and touched Emma's arm: "Would you like to join us in Ten Forward? It might be relaxing for you, may put your mind at ease."

Now this was a surprising turn. But Emma somehow felt it to be overstaying her welcome, if she said yes: "Thank you, Counsellor, you are very kind. But I have a lot to think about - and even more to study... for that wretched exam..." she added on a grunt as they exited the Counsellor's office.

"You mentioned that exam before. When is it?"

"Two months from now. I need to prove that I still have sufficient knowledge of the technology to be a doctor after long years of using only ancient devices and methods on Epsilon Four. Till then, I can work only as a nurse. But as I was employed as a doctor aboard the Enterprise, if I don't pass it, I may pack my stuff and look for new shores..." Emma explained bemused. This whole turned out only a few days ago - Bev almost dismissed her from the play to give her time to study. Luckily, she could convince her not to...

Deanna and her said goodbye, when the turbolift arrived at Deck 10.


	15. Chapter 15

Data lay down on his bed still with a satisfied little smile on his lips - though he could NOT actually feel the emotion right at the moment! Finally, he could try to generate some dream images again. He did not have the courage to run his dream program for a while now, and he had to confess he missed the experience. But with the emotion-chip turned on, the program produced only more confusion and some more fear. And those were the two feelings he had an abundance of these days not really needing any more. However, he was not afraid and was not confused tonight. He was determined to claim his lost life back, beginning with his dreams and hoping to finish with reacquainting with his old friends.

He closed his eyes, and reality faded into nothingness.

He was hurrying on in the streets of a 20th century city just like his character did in the play. He was singing cheerfully, but was glad to notice that he did not feel cheerful at all. He did not feel ANYTHING at all. He slowed down to a mere pace, and for a moment, thought he recognized a familiar face in the crowd at the far end of the street.

"Wait!" he called and started to run after her. It was Emma. And now was as good a time as any to test himself even in his dreams. How would he react? Would he feel anything, if they met?

He turned the corner and just saw her entering a building. It was the restaurant perhaps. He energetically leaped after her and entered the building with a neutral expression. He stopped short at what he found inside.

It was not a restaurant. It was Engineering. There were hundreds of Borg drones on the floor. All dead. Broken bodies, most of them only had their cybernetic parts intact.

"You really thought you can run away from me, Data?" a familiar female voice asked. He swirled around just to find that he was all alone with the bodies around him.

"You really thought you can kill me?"

This time he stood still. "You cannot intimidate me."

"Oh, can't I?" the voice asked.

"This is only a dream." he stated and turned toward the door. His hand was on the doorknob of the classic 20th century door, when he heard another voice.

"Would you leave me here alone?" Emma's voice asked just from behind his shoulder - he could even feel her breath on his ear.

He swirled around again, just to meet the silver gaze of the Queen. It was swept away in a blur as she locked her lips on his and kissed him. He did not kiss her back, did not even close his eyes.

She pulled away, and her lips drew into a slow smile: "You think you can win, don't you?" she asked on a whisper "You really think it will be over one day."

Data put his hands on her arms gently and pushed her away: "It IS over."

She reached up to touch his lips and snuggled back against him: "Is it?" she giggled.

And it was all back! All of it! Data sucked in a breath and felt that the room turned around him as his emotion-chip activated. No! How could she... How could she?!

He had no time to ask. Her mouth was again on his. She kissed him first only on the lips. He tried to pull away. No use, she held him fiercely. Then she pushed her tongue into his mouth - a muffled moan escaped him at the sensation as his tongue met hers. And his eyes closed on their own accord. No, please! his thoughts screamed as he felt his arms slip around her waist to hold her against him. As if his conscious mind had no power over his own actions.

She broke away and looked into his eyes: "Do you really want it to be over, Data?" she asked on a sultry voice "Do you really want to leave me behind? Don't you want me, the way you once did?"

He opened his eyes and looked at her through his long lashes. His heart raced in his chest, and he was helpless under the strong arousal her kisses created in his body. He wanted to say, I want to leave! He could have sworn he wanted to say that, but he breathed "I want you..." and before realizing it, he was kissing her again just as fiercely as she did him.

But this time, her taste was different! It was not her taste! How could this be?! He wanted to break away to make sure it was really HER. To see her with his own eyes. To see what he already knew from her taste. The taste of a woman he hadn't held in his arms for long-long years. Tasha! Can it be you?!

He slowly broke away and couldn't believe to see Tasha's face just an inch from his. She wore that outfit she wore, when she asked him for gentleness and joy ...and love. He couldn't give her the last one then.

He suddenly felt panic spread around in his body making him hold her tightly to him: "Tasha! Please do not go! Please! Do not leave me! I can give you love. Love that you asked me to give you. I can give it to you now!" his words just stumbled one after the other as his throat closed, and he felt his heart wanting to leap out of his chest.

Tasha slowly reached up and touched his lips the same way the Queen had done a few moments ago and then giggled: "Poor, little Data. You really thought I could want love from you?" she asked then looked at him with pity in her blue eyes "It was just a one night stand. Hmm... and not even that." she leaned close to his ear and whispered "Because it never happened, Data. It never happened."

His eyes closed as he felt pain stab into his chest. Closely followed by deep shame. The emotions that were eight years late after the events. He saw the gazes of his crewmates on the Bridge. They all reacted to Tasha's statement. Everybody understood what occurred, and they also understood that Tasha wanted it to be erased from her past. She wasn't even embarrassed to tell him that on the Bridge, in front of everybody. On the contrary. She did it so nobody would get the wrong impression. That she had anything to do with...

"A machine." the Borg Queen finished as he opened his eyes and saw that she took Tasha's place once again. She stroked his lips once again, and he numbly let her. "Do you remember I told you, how close you are to perfection? Why would you give me up? For someone like her?"

He kissed her then. It was his choice this time. As much as it was the first time in Engineering. She accepted him. As he was. No pain. No shame. Just pleasure. He moaned helplessly under her touch as her hands roamed his body hungrily, and they fell to the ground.

He broke away and looked at her face. Without warning, she started to scream. He held her close, not having any other choice. Held her until her organic flesh dissolved, and she died in his arms a painful, gruesome death.

"It is over..." he whimpered on a low strained voice. He painfully turned to his back but was not able to move anymore. Every part of his body resounded with the unthinkable pain of feeling his own organic skin dissolving "Over now..."

"You think it can ever be over, Data?" he heard her voice again. Fear gripped him once again. He turned his head with some difficulty to see her remains beside him on the floor. And there she was. Her face once again unmarred.

He turned his face away. I cannot do this anymore... She crouched next to him and took his hand tenderly in hers, the exact same gesture she made when he was under the ministrations of her drones making him more human than he thought was possible: "I will never go away, Data." He thought if death could have been a person, its touch must have been the same as hers was now.

She bent down to him "You may leave. For now." she whispered as she blew into his ear.

He opened his eyes slowly as reality crept back into his mind. It WAS a dream. It was not real. But he felt so...

He sat up at once. He FELT! He cocked his head to switch the chip off again. Nothing! Nothing happened! He tried it again. And again. But the emotions remained. In fact, his head was swaying from his dream and of all the events of the day. He put his forehead into his palm and closed his eyes. He needed help. It couldn't go on this way!

He raised his head and tapped his combadge:

"Data to La Forge."

* * *

"Hello, Geordi." he greeted his friend on a silent voice. He was still shaken up by his dream.

Geordi stepped into his workspace area and looked at him for a moment longer: "Hi... stranger." his voice resonated with a slight grudge. Data did not react so he went on "What can I do for you?" he asked starting to walk around in the room aimlessly.

"I need your help." Data stated simply.

Geordi snorted: "I figured this much. Why wouldn't you ask for my help of course? Of course, there's nothing wrong with ignoring and neglecting your friend for a month. Let's pretend you never did things like avoiding me on purpose, or not opening the door when I tried to check on you, or not returning ANY of my messages. Let's just move over that elephant in the room, it would just be in the way anyways." he couldn't help to pour his bitterness on his once-best-friend.

"Geordi..."

"No, you know what? Really, let's forget it. Just spit it out, tell me what you need, so I can be on my way and leave you alone. Cause that's what you want so much, don't you? What do you need my help with?" he finally stopped at Data's desk and turned back to him. Data stood in the middle of the room motionlessly, and Geordi suddenly noticed that he seemed... distressed. His face... almost seemed aged and troubled. Geordi's heart sank. He was angry at him with a reason, but...

"I want you to remove my emotion-chip. For good."

"WHAT?"

"The micro-switch enabling me to turn it off is fused, and the redundancy does not work. My self-diagnostics was not able to determine the cause of the failure." Data's voice was small and shaken.

Geordi stepped up to him and tried to catch his gaze, but Data just bowed his head: "Data. I can check that switch for you, but removing the chip... It's all you ever wanted!"

"It is now destroying my life. It damages my friends. And me. And I need it to be over."

Geordi could hear pain under every singular word he uttered. "Data, this is not the way to deal with strong emotions. Listen, I'm here! You can talk to me! Just forget everything I just said, I'm here to help you!"

"Then remove it!" Data snapped. His hands came up into fists as he finally looked straight into Geordi's eyes, his words were like whiplashes.

"Data, come on... Stop this, it's crazy! It's not right! Just... just talk to me! Tell me what hurts you so much that you want to throw all other emotions away with it!" Geordi pleaded.

"No!" Data shouted, and Geordi was shocked to see him lose control to that degree "Do you not understand, Geordi?! There is nothing to talk about. There is no reason the chip should give me the emotions I experience. It is not working properly whether diagnostics show the malfunction or not! I made a decision. I need your help with carrying it out."

Geordi was almost convinced. Almost. Except he read the reports of Data's abduction. He knew of the Borg Queen. And knew that Data didn't talk about her. Not to him, not to anyone. And if he had been the 'old' Data with no emotions, he could have been convinced that there was no need to discuss his abduction. But Data had emotions now. Who wouldn't need to talk about how afraid he was, how helpless he was... Geordi knew from personal experience that Data's silence was not right.

He slowly bowed his head and sighed: "Data..." he whispered then looked at him again trying again to look into his eyes. But the android avoided his gaze and just looked ahead into nothing. "I think the best way I can help you now is, if I leave." he said finally and turned to go.

What he did not expect was feeling Data's hand on his arm holding on to him like a drowning would to the last straw he could catch. This time they locked gazes "Please..." Data begged on a desperate whisper "I cannot go on like this any longer." he held on tighter and his grip now hurt Geordi "Please! I need this to end!"

Despite the pain, Geordi put his hand on Data's, where it was on his arm: "Please, Data! If you don't want to talk to me. Talk to Counsellor Troi. Or anybody else. But talk! If you are so desperate, there needs to be a reason! We both know the chip is not faulty. You need to find your answers yourself. You cannot run away!"

"If you leave me now, you are leaving me trapped with emotions I cannot bear any more! Geordi!"

"Then talk to me! I'm here, Data! I'm not going anywhere, just talk!"

Data looked into his eyes for a moment longer, then simply let his hand drop from Geordi's arm. He bowed his head: "Good night, Geordi."

Geordi turned completely toward him "Data..."

"You are dismissed, Lieutenant Commander." Data muttered on a voice that lacked all color.

Geordi sighed frustrated: "Yes, Sir." and left him to himself.

Data stood there staring at his closed door for several long seconds. He contemplated what he should do next. He could try distracting himself again. Listening to some music the way he had been doing now for the last few days. To learn some more about the settings of Dreamland.

However, if he thought about the play, Emma came to his mind almost like a reflex. And he did not want to think about her. If he did, he felt an unintelligible sense of loss. It had no point. No logic. But it was there ever since she told him that she did not want him. The feeling made even less sense in the light of his own inhibitions against a relationship.

"She doesn't want you." he heard the familiar female voice again and raised his head sharply.

He felt that well-known tremble in his chest, gripping him tighter and tighter as he gazed around in his empty room. He was alone.

"I was the only one who ever wanted you."

Data looked over at his life. He was left on Omicron Theta by his own parents. Deactivated, all alone. After he was found by Starfleet officers, life took him to several different places. He met a lot of people who just came and went never lingering for longer then a few years. By the time he got to the Enterprise, his wish to create meaningful interpersonal relationships became one of his main priorities.

But relationships, real relationships never worked out. Tasha regretted that one occasion the moment she sobered. And he never really knew, if she felt any amount of the attachment he felt towards her. He was convinced at that time, that if he had had emotions, he could have fallen in love with her. But you cannot fall in love with a dead lover retrospectively after years. So after having his chip installed, he just felt a deep loss. Not only for Tasha herself. It was as if his emotions took away even the illusion of the possibility of love for her.

All the other women, Ard'ri from Tau Sigma V, Jenna D'Sora were only fleeting moments, never making any sense without emotions. After having emotions, they became missed opportunities. Even knowing that they expected him to be someone else - something else, which he would never be able to accomplish, knowing that even with emotions neither supposed relationship would have worked out, he felt he missed the opportunity to make an attempt.

And there was the Queen. She was essentially different from all the other women he had ever met. She accepted him so thoroughly that she accepted even his wish to be less than he already was. She viewed organic life as a lesser form of being. She considered him to be almost perfect as he was. And still accepted that he craved to become that lesser form of being.

"I was the only one that ever wanted YOU. The being that you truly are." she said again.

"I know." he whispered. He shut his eyes as he felt pain mingling into fear. He felt a gentle touch on his lips and blinking he slowly opened his eyes again. The Queen gazed into his eyes tenderly. She waited for him to speak, and slowly, he found words to utter "I-I cannot go on like this. Please, give my life back to me." he whispered.

She smiled "Claim it back. No one's stopping you." she told him on a low voice.

Data took another long second to reply. "You... are not real, are you?" he asked knowing the answer already. She just smiled up at him. He took a reluctant step back from her. She didn't make an attempt to get closer to him. Just stood there with a smile on her face watching him.

He had no idea how to dismiss her. What if she followed him, when he was on Bridge duty? Or at the rehearsal? What should he do even right now? He had a day off as it was required by regulations that he had to take at least one 24 hours off every seven days. He had 16 more hours until he was due at the rehearsal. And he was here. Trapped with his emotions. Trapped with her. He could not think of anything else to do but...

His hand slowly came up to the small of his back. He found the small hollow there containing the switch he dreaded more than anything - now he found something he dreaded more than being virtually dead... He found the small projections next to it and set the timer to 15 hours 50 minutes. Then he pushed the button. His emotions disappeared a nano second before the whole of reality focused into one tiny point of light giving him one nano second of relief. Then that light faded as well, and his body slumped to the floor like a ragdoll.


	16. Chapter 16

Emma had a horrible night. She had to study for her exam, so she stayed up late, but she had to read every paragraph at least four times to comprehend it at all. Actual studying was out of the question. She had to admit, she was preoccupied. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate. At around midnight, she decided to finally give it up and went to bed. After an hour of tossing and turning, she fell into a fitful sleep. Then at around four in the morning she woke up.

The hour of the wolf, her old aunt Susan used to say. According to her, the best thing to scare the wolf away was Vodka. Real Vodka, not synthetic of course. But she couldn't afford getting drunk now.

She sighed and gazed into the darkness. Come on, just face it. You won't get any sleep, if you don't face it.

Data. What am I doing to you? You SHOULD hate me! I'm seducing you knowing full well that you want to be left alone. And then I push you away. She sighed again. But... running away is not the answer! You have to face and then deal with emotions not turn them off! You should just think it through logically. And just be angry with me! That's the correct answer!

She sat up.

"Computer! Is Commander Data on the Bridge?"

"Negative."

"Okay, so you're at home. Good thing you don't need sleep, because I don't think I can wait until tomorrow." she mumbled as she got out of bed.

As she dressed up and walked (jogged) to his quarters, she felt a tinge of excitement around her heart - and in her abdomen. She wished she could determine whether it was because of what she wanted to tell him or just because of the thought of seeing him. In the middle of the night. Alone in his quarters.

Just stop it for god's sake! You cannot get turned on every freaking time you see him, if you want nothing from him! He deserves a lot more than to simply be the object of desire! Besides you're going there to make him angry at you, so he can move on from feeling any kind of attraction towards you! So just cool down, bitch! Kill that hunting instinct of yours off!

She got to his door and took a deep breath to gather courage. Then pressed the door chime. Nothing. Pressed it again. Again nothing. "Oh, come on, Deadpan! Do we have to do this every freaking time?!" she called frustrated. Still nothing.

What the hell... Maybe he was not home after all... "Computer! Locate Commander Data!"

"Lieutenant Commander Data is not aboard the Enterprise."

"WHAT?!" Emma's jaw dropped, then she thought she figured out "Oh, you stupid gadget! You don't know where he is, because he has no organic life-signs, do you?" she didn't know that the computer could in fact locate inorganic life-signs as well...

"Unable to process inquiry or request."

"That's because you are a pile of scrap... Locate Lieutenant Commander Data's combadge!"

"Lieutenant Commander Data's combadge is located in his quarters."

"Oh, really? So you ARE at home after all!" Emma suddenly grew angry. She pressed the door chime again "Hey, you ... don't you play games with me! Open the freaking door, or I WILL use a battering ram!" No answer came, and Emma's eyes blazed with fury "You wanted it, pal! Computer! Medical emergency override! Security code Crusher Theta Alpha three six four! Open the freaking door, before I use an axe!" she had known Beverly's passcode conventions from Academic years. She followed the same logic in changing her passcodes ever since, she just had to calculate a bit to find the current one.

The door slid open, and she stepped into the sleeping area of Data's quarters. He was nowhere to be seen, so she turned her head around to look into the workspace area. Her heart was gripped by the coldest fear as she saw him there lying on the floor on his back, unmoving with Spot scooping on his chest.

She literally jumped to him "Oh, my god, Deadpan!" she whispered as she crouched to him. "Let me check him, little girl!" she told the cat as she pushed Spot out of the way. The cat disappeared in the sleeping area with a distressed meow. Emma checked his pulse on the neck, and to her complete dismay, she found nothing. She looked into his lifeless eyes, and her own eyes filled with tears. Her reflexes set into motion, and she measured on his chest, where his heart could have been to give him basic first aid. She gave his chest a few hard pushes, but she didn't feel the familiar rise and fall that a human chest would give. She couldn't move his ribcage even an inch.

She gave it a few desperate tries before sitting back on her heels exhausted. Finally, it dawned on her that she was not all alone on a planet without any help, so she pressed her combadge: "Jones to Crusher." she moaned and wiped the tears and sweat from her face.

The computer answered instead of Beverly: "Doctor Crusher's combadge is currently in Do Not Disturb mode due to conducting an emergency operation on Ensign Lark. Only senior staff members are allowed to initiate incoming communication."

"Oh, shit!" Emma breathed. She took a shaky breath and touched his chin with her fingertips "Okay... let me think. You ...you don't need medical help. You need an engineer, right? I'm stupid..." she shook her head pondering "What was his name? Some George or... ahshit..."

"Computer! What's the name of that blind engineer guy?"

"Unable to process inquiry. Querying personnel by medical records is restricted to medical staff with medical degrees only."

"Hell, I'm medical staff, you idiot!"

"You are currently limited to a restricted access to medical files until you have taken the Medical Differential exam."

Emma's eyes filled with tears again, this time it was out of frustration. Here was all this technology, and it was doing nothing but tripping her over her own feet. Let's just fall back on what I have.

She took a deep breath to clear her mind then looked into Data's lifeless eyes: "You... you are a machine. Even if you don't have a pulse, and your skin is cold as if you were dead, you cannot BE dead, right? It's just something is out of place. Or it's only my wishful thinking... Focus, Emma! ...Let's see, maybe you're hurt. Somewhere. Would you be able to bleed, if it was so?" she started to unbutton his uniform at his throat. "Maybe you don't bleed at all, and you can be hurt without blood to sell it off." she quickly started unbuttoning his uniform. "This was definitely not the way I imagined undressing you." she whispered, and her voice broke. What if he WAS dead? What if there was nothing to be done for him anymore? Her tears landed on his uniform front and disappeared on the black fabric.

She pressed her combadge again: "Jones to Crusher"

"Doctor Crusher's combadge is currently in Do Not Disturb mode due to conducting an emergency operation on Ensign Lark. Only senior staff members..."

"Okay, shut up! Just tell her I called, and it's an emergency!" she moaned.

She gasped from crying as she finally finished unbuttoning his uniform front. She pushed the fabric aside from his chest just to find a black under-shirt below. "Oh, come on, why are you so wrapped up, if you don't feel the cold?" she muttered as she tried to push the fabric of his uniform off his shoulders. But it was impossible, his body was too rigid. She was breathing now heavily from the physical effort. She jumped up to check around the quarters for something to cut the front of his under-shirt in two. She was not familiar with most of the gadgets she had found, and the rest was useless, but finally, she fished out from a drawer something that was remotely similar to the laser-knives she used to use on the colony.

She knelt back next to him and cut into the fabric of his under-shirt. She didn't dare to cut it all the way with the gadget fearing she might injure him with the sharp instrument. She ripped the shirt apart up until the top and pushed the thin fabric to the sides. She swallowed hard as she took in the curves of his body.

There was no injury. None that she could see. Having no other choice, she went on with her examination as if he was a human. She knew she had to check for internal injuries as well. So she gently put her palm on his skin. She ran her fingers over his collar bones then over his sternum. They all seemed intact. Vaguely, she noticed that his skin was unblemished and smooth without any chest-hair. She put her hands under his armpits and ran her fingers over his sides. His ribs - or whatever she could feel under his skin to be his bones - were all intact. No injuries there either. She slowly pressed her fingers into his flat abdomen - she couldn't push the flesh in, and the realization once again hit her that he was not a human.

"I need to turn you around to check you." she whispered gently. She tried to turn his body over using a basic first-aid technique, but failed. He seemed extremely heavy compared to how skinny he looked, and if that was not enough, his limbs were rigid, unmovable - a haunting similarity to rigor mortis... She tried to turn him around three more times and failed, and she sat back on her heels gasping from the effort. "Okay..." she breathed wiping the sweat from her face with the sleeve of her uniform "Then I'll need to check you the way that I can." she took the laser-knife looking gadget into her hand again, and cutting the upper part of his uniform into shreds, she slowly peeled it off of him. Once his upper body was naked, she set to examine him again. His arms seemed uninjured, and she put her hand under his shoulder to feel his bladebone. Checked it on both sides, no injuries found, but she couldn't squeeze her hand between his backbone and the floor. She went on from his waistline up. She tucked her palm under him and felt her way upwards.

Suddenly, her hand encountered a narrow hollow in the small of his back. "What's this, Deadpan?" she asked frowning confused. At first, she thought she'd found his injury! But then she also found tiny projections in the hollow. It didn't seem to be something caused by damage, the hollow and the projections were all too orderly, as if they were there by design. She ran her fingers over them - it would be so good to see what I'm doing! "I don't think, I can do any more damage... or I hope so!" she said on a weak voice then pressed one of the projections. Nothing happened. She pressed the other one - still nothing. She felt her finger slide more deeply into the hollow, and there she found another button! She pressed that one too and jumped back shocked as all at once Data sat up and looked ahead.

She gasped staring at him, her heart wanted to jump out of her chest, and she suddenly noticed that she was trembling all over. Data seemed to look around confused for a few moments - as would anybody who had just risen from the dead - then looked at her, where she was kneeling beside him:

"What has happened?" he asked. He checked his chronometer: it was only 05:02 hours. AM! And he was naked from his waistline up! "What has happened to my clothing?"

"I-I had to cut it off to check you out! What the hell has happened to you?! Who did this to you?!" she asked still in distress.

"What are you doing in my quarters?" he asked back looking at his uniform in shreds around him on the floor.

"Would you just stop answering with questions to my questions?! I came to see you, and I found you here! ...You were dead! No pulse, no breathing, nothing!"

He started to get up, but she immediately stopped him by grabbing his shoulder and arm: "Don't get up! Just stay where you are! You may still be injured! Somebody needs to check you out! Somebody who is more knowledgeable about you than I am! I forgot the name of that engineer guy! Georgesomethin... We need him to check you! What's his name?"

Data was completely taken aback by her flood of anguish: "Geordi..." he replied silently.

"Yeah... We need to call him here!" she told him, and he could see tears forming in her eyes - and saw the streaks past tears had left on her cheeks.

He frowned at this confused. Then again his emotions took over his rationality, and he moved without thinking ahead. He slowly raised his hand to her face and gently touched her tears rolling down her cheek with tips of his fore- and middle-fingers. She stopped talking, her breath was caught as he studied her face for a long moment, then cupped her cheek in his hand and wiped her rolling tear off with his thumb. He felt her hands on his arm and shoulder, and felt them tremble, and her palms to be damp. "I am fine." he replied silently as he felt an irresistible warm feeling spread around in his body at seeing her so torn by worry about him. For that short moment, there was no fear, no pain, no desperate loneliness. Only this tender touch and that warm feeling.

She swallowed hard: "You are? Cause if there's something still out of place..."

He put his hand on her shoulder lightly: "I am fine. I am sorry I scared you."

"Oh, you!" she moaned and embraced him tightly, her arms clasped around his wide bare shoulders. She buried her face into the nape of his neck, and he could feel her hot tears rolling down his still cold skin as he gently put his arms around her waist. He could feel her trembling in his arms, and her warm breath in his neck as she spoke: "I thought... I thought I will never be able to ...talk to you again..." she finished not daring to confess anything else she had on her mind, then instinctively pushed her lips to his neck.

She didn't want to let him go. She sighed as she felt his embrace tighten around her waist pushing her up to his bare chest. She kissed his neck again then turned her head and kissed his shoulder. You scared me so much! she thought still in anguish, and her hands wanted to tighten into fists, but with his skin under her palms, she just sank her nails into him.

He felt the change in her embrace, and had no time to think clearly as once again his sexuality program pushed to the front. He simply buried his face into her hair to inhale her fragrance. He felt helplessly aroused by the sensation of her palms on his bare skin, and her nails sinking into his flesh. All his thoughts were only on how he would undress her, how he would kiss every inch of her body, how he would feel when he would finally enter her fully. He gave a small grunt as he slid his hand up to the back of her neck and wiping her long strands away, kissed the curve of her ear.

She sucked in a breath at the feeling of his lips on her ear and couldn't stop herself from kissing his neck again. This time, she wanted to taste his skin, so kissing him again, she opened her mouth and flicked her tongue across the skin of his neck. He didn't taste like a human would. His skin was not slightly salty. His taste was unique, unlike anything she had ever tasted. And she wanted more! They moaned in union as she went on kissing and licking the skin of his shoulder. He was so skinny! His bones almost pricked his skin from underneath.

He ran his hand down her back, and grabbing her butt, he pulled her across his lap. She moaned again in pleasure as she felt his hot arousal. Oh, god! "Please..." she mumbled as she went from kissing his neck to kissing his jawline up to his chin. She scraped his chin with her lower teeth gently before letting him go. Then their gazes locked, and they both knew that they didn't want to stop there!

A small cry of pleasure escaped her lips as he suddenly turned them around and lay her on the floor beneath him. He was cautious not to hurt her and put his hand under her head as he lay between her legs. "Ahh..." she moaned helplessly as she felt him there and squirmed her hips under him wanting him to be close, closer! He couldn't stop himself from rolling his hips against hers as he felt her writhing just under his arousal. His rational thoughts told him, she might not be ready for that, but his sexuality program won over all conscious thought-processes. And she didn't seem to mind! A sensual tremor rippled through her body as she felt his arousal grind against her own. Her eyes closed involuntarily, and he bowed his head to kiss her on the lips finally!

She felt his warm breath on her mouth, then his sensual lips touched to hers with a feather-like touch. As she was about to push herself up to meet him, her combadge went off...

"Crusher to Jones." they heard suddenly, and they sobered in an instant. They lay there on the floor frozen to the spot, hearts racing, skin wet wherever their lips had touched and gazed at each other wide-eyed, confused.

"Crusher to Jones. Emma, do you hear me?" they heard again, and this finally made them disentangle from their embrace. They got up from the floor, Data in one smooth motion, then as he saw that Emma required some help with her balance, he helped her up by the arm.

She glanced at him then pulling her arm away, cleared her throat and pressed her combadge "Bev... Here I am, I hear you." she said breathlessly.

"Em, what's wrong? I got your message! What's happened?!" it could be heard that her voice was full of worry.

"Nothing, Bev... It's not me, it's..." she stopped suddenly as she felt Data's hand on her arm, and she gazed over at him. He let her go, but stood there looking at her with pleading eyes shaking his head. It was plain he didn't want Bev to know about this incident. Emma sighed - she was still a bit out of breath - "Bev, it's nothing. I solved it. Don't worry about any of it."

"You sure? The message said it was an emergency."

"Yes. I'm fine. I'll talk to you later, okay?" Emma asked on a slightly tired voice "Sorry, I disturbed you, sweetie!"

"Okay..." Bev seemed to let it go, but it was plain that she was not convinced that everything was fine "See you later. Crusher out."

Emma took a deep breath and looked over at Data. He just looked at her with an unreadable expression then nodded "Thank you." he told her on a silent voice and walked over to his sleeping area.

"I will need to lie to Beverly, if I want to keep this all a secret, Deadpan." Emma stated and walked after him. He didn't reply just pulled out an under-shirt from one of his drawers. His modesty program kept prompting him to wrap himself up.

Now that he managed to bring most of his rational thought-processes into the foreground, and his mind defogged from the attraction he seemed not to be able to fight, their conversation from the previous evening vividly came into his mind. She doesn't want you, he reminded himself as Emma stood beside him, and he looked into her eyes. "Are you planning to tell me, what this was about?" she asked now rather irritated and demanding - the worry seemed to wear off.

"I am planning to change clothes, so if you would excuse me..." he told her on a cold voice.

"Do you really think I would leave? Just like that?"

"I was hoping you would." he told her as he pulled the shirt over his head.

"What in the hell's name has happened?! Why were you practically dead for hours? Who did this to you?! Data!" she grabbed his arm as he tried to walk out on her again.

He looked into her eyes then on her hand on his arm. He could see that she would not let go, so he just pulled his arm away: "This is none of your concerns, Ms. Jones. I would appreciate it, if you did not ask me about this incident ever again. Thank you for your visit."

Emma gaped at him for a moment longer. He walked back to his workspace area to clear up the remnants of his clothing still on the floor. She walked up to him stunned "NONE of my concerns?! And you are telling me this after almost screwing me through our clothes on your goddamn floor?!"

Data gave her a look for a brief moment then went back to collecting the cut fabric: "Your words are unbecoming of a Starfleet officer, Ms. Jones." he told her on a low voice as he stood up with the trash and walked over to the disposal slot.

"Excuse me for my colonial-dialect, Mr. Commander, Sir! But just what do you think you're doing-"

"Taking out the trash." he told her nonchalantly, before she could finish her question.

She looked at him with a look beyond irritation: "Not that, dumbass!" her voice rose with every sentence "What do you think you're doing to me?!" she demanded stepping up to him "I come here to talk to you! To apologize for seducing you and to straighten our relationship. To tell you that you shouldn't turn off that emotion generating chip of yours, but that you should rather be angry at me for being so inconsiderate. THEN I find you here. Mostly dead! Have you any idea at all what it felt like finding you lying there?!"

"You had no businesses in my quarters!" he snapped, finally feeling THAT anger she was talking about.

"So sue me I came in! I wanted to help you! And I did!"

"No one asked you to help! No one asked you to come here! No one asked you to as you say 'straighten our relationship'. I believe we have already discussed the matter and agreed on our terms. What more there is to discuss?"

"A lot more, Deadpan! I cannot just stand by and watch you suffer!"

"I do not suffer from anything!"

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I DO NOT, Ms. Jones! I believe I have already stated my desire to be left alone! I would be grateful if you could abide by my wishes!"

"Left alone? Alright! What would have happened, if I left you alone tonight? How long would you have lay there, if I hadn't come in?"

"Until 15:50 PM." he answered honestly.

And finally, the obvious dawned on Emma: "YOU did this to yourself." she breathed. She stood there gaping, and Data had the impression that all life was drained from her. Then just as abruptly, she ran to him and tried to hit him with her fists: "You SON-OF-A-BITCH! What sick game do you think you are playing?!" she shouted. He avoided her blows, but she didn't give up.

"Ms. Jones, stop it!" he ordered finally, but she just went on trying to hit him with all the might she had.

"What can make you play such a twisted game?! How can you be such a prick?! You scared me shitless! I thought you were dead, you unscrupulous piece of shit..." she then broke down in tears, her body finally completely exhausted, and her mind unable to cope with the emotional roller-coaster she had been experiencing that day. Data had to catch her and hold her up by the waist to save her from collapsing. But she was not able to carry her weight anymore.

He gathered her into his arms and gently picked her up. Holding her to him, feeling her burying her face in his chest crying inconsolably, that warm feeling took the place of anger. He couldn't resist it. It came as a tidal wave and flooded all his mind, all his body.

He then went back with her to the sleeping area and put her down on his bed. She was still sobbing uncontrollably, and she turned her back on him and crawled away to the other side of the bed, but had no energy to get up and just leave. He watched her agony for a moment longer, then he couldn't stop himself from lying down next to her. He took her into his arms from behind. Though she didn't have the strength to pull away, her body was rigid, and she just held onto the bedclothes tightly burying her face into the blanket as her sobs rippled through her. She tried hard to get a grip, but she was exhausted, and the last half an hour was just too much to handle...

He felt ashamed. You were scared. You were scared that I was dead. You tried to help me. And I made you cry. I caused you pain. Suddenly, he felt he would give almost anything, if he could take her pain away, if he could just find a way to comfort her. He had never felt like that before. The thought made him hold her as close as he could. Please stop... he pleaded as he felt his heart break under her tears. But somehow just couldn't utter the words.

Then slowly she calmed down and stopped crying. She relaxed into his embrace, and they lay there listening only to each other's breathing. He stroked her abdomen through her uniform slowly, with a light touch. This time, it was not erotic, this time, it was soothing. And before long, Emma's eyes were closing, and reality started to slip away as she lay their in Data's secure embrace.

"I am sorry." she heard his silent voice, and she tried hard to blink her sleepiness away "I did not mean to scare you. Or anybody else." She waited patiently for him to go on, but he just lay there in silence.

"Were you actually dead?" she asked on a thin, tired voice.

"I... I cannot be dead. However, it might be an adequate analogy. I was unconscious. Deactivated is the correct term."

"Why? Why did you need to be 'dead'?" she asked on a breaking voice.

And he felt a catch in his throat once again "Because I cannot bear the emotions I experience."

"Because of me?" she asked the question she dreaded most. Her voice was only a whisper as her tears started to come again.

"No." he tightened his grip on her and buried his face into her hair and shoulder "Because of her..." he whispered on such a low voice that she wasn't sure she heard well.

He then suddenly let her go and sat up turning away from her "It would be better if you left..." he told her on a flat voice.

She gazed over at him above her shoulder through her tears. He was sitting there slouching, gazing ahead at something only he could see. Then wiping her face into her uniform sleeve, she gingerly sat up and crawled beside him, where he sat on the edge of the bed. She slowly slid her hand down his arm, and taking his hand in hers she buried her face into his shoulder.

Data knew she would not leave. Maybe he should order her to. He was her superior after all.

"Tell me about her." he heard her muffled voice from his shoulder.

He swallowed hard: "There is nothing to tell."

"Was she beautiful?"

He sat there in silence for a long minute. Then replied on a whisper: "She was glorious."

"Did you love her?" she asked innocently, and he knew he had to answer.

"I... I did love her in the physical sense of the word."

She slowly raised her head from his shoulder and slid opposite him to look into his eyes still holding his hand firmly in hers. He sat there motionless, still slouching, gazing ahead listlessly. She gently touched her fingertips to his chin and made him look at her. "There is a distinct difference between making love and having sex, Data." she told him now on a firm voice.

He shook his head slowly: "I do not see any difference." he bowed his head again.

"But there is a whopping big one. Satisfying bodily needs, let that be yours or hers, is just sex. Nothing more. Has nothing to do with love." she tried to explain, but he remained stubborn:

"It is still the highest form of intimacy between two beings."

She decided to let it go for now... but she had to ask the painful question she knew she couldn't avoid "Did she make you do it?" her voice was low and slightly trembling.

He gazed back up at her and slowly shook his head confused: "I did not think about what other choices I had. I wanted it. So it was my choice." he whispered. He swallowed hoping that the catch in his throat would disappear "She accepted me. In all ways possible. She wanted me. As I am. With all my dreams and aspirations. She... was so close. And yet so far away." Emma waited patiently for him to go on. It took him some more time, but he did go on "I see her in my dreams. I see her in my memories. And... yesterday... yesterday I saw her here. In my room. She told me, she would never leave." his voice broke on the last word.

"Do you want her to leave?" Emma asked on a firm voice.

Data looked into her eyes questioningly. She did not think he was crazy for seeing a dead woman in his quarters! She did not condemn him for feeling tenderness towards their lethal enemy!

He again shook his head confused: "I do not know."

"Because you are still attracted?"

He gaped at her for a moment shocked realizing what bold questions she had asked him. It was not usual with humans, they never asked such things as directly as she did. And he somehow felt he needed to answer! Needed to be as honest in his replies as she was in her questions. "I am not attracted to her anymore... Ever since I know you." he confessed.

A small smile flickered over her face: "And I'm not attracted to my abusive husband ever since I know you." she equalled then shrugged slightly "You see how complicated feelings can be, Data?" she asked him stroking his cheek tenderly "You may find yourself feeling guilty for leaving somebody who was essentially not good for you."

She DID understand. And he opened his mouth to speak! Words rushed to his lips all of a sudden, a thousand words! He grabbed her hand firmly - it almost hurt. But she could see his utter desperation. She needed to help him through. "Because you do feel guilty, don't you?"

"Yes!" he replied almost shouting the word "She was our enemy! She killed many of my colleagues! Even friends! And I let myself enjoy making love to her! I not only enjoyed it! It was the best thing I ever felt! I had previous experiences. I knew the sensations. But nothing prepared me for what it actually feels like to make love! I betrayed my own by giving in to pleasure from her... And then... I had to betray her as well. We were intimate! We engaged in the highest form of intimacy! And I lied to her. I lied I was on her side. She accepted me, she believed every word! She trusted me implicitly. And I betrayed her trust. And finally, no other choice was left... but to kill her."

"You killed her?" she asked on a whisper dreading his answer.

He looked into her eyes, his gaze once again beyond desperation: "Yes! Yes, I did! The highest form of intimacy. And I killed her with my bare hands." he shook his head "What kind of a monster am I? Who would understand this? Who would not look at me and think: he is a monster, worse than a monster, a heartless, soulless machine, with no conscience at all? Killing the woman I was inside of just hours before. I am a murderer." he covered his face with his palms thinking that he would cry. But only a sob escaped his lips, and no tears came. He felt empty inside. Dead inside.

Emma slowly snuggled up to him and gathered him into her arms. She held him close, his head tucked under her chin, her hands gently rubbing his arm and back. She let him hold onto her and just hugged him securely. She planted an occasional kiss on the top of his head. Then slid her hand from his back up his spine to his hair and stroked him there gently as if she was stroking the head of a little child.

After a while, he felt his racing heart slowing to the rhythm of her monotonous caresses. He felt calmer than he ever had in the last two months. How could she do that?! And how could she still be here? In one room with a murderer!

He slowly disentangled himself from her arms and looked at her confused: "Why are you still here?" he asked in a whisper.

Emma bowed her head as her heart sank "You still want me to leave."

"No!" he replied almost sooner than she finished her sentence. She looked at him questioningly, and he went on "But... why do you not hate me? Why are you not afraid of me? I... I killed a woman, whom I was attracted to. Whom I was intimate with. ...We, you and I are attracted to each other. Are you not scared?"

She couldn't help but chuckle at this: "You need to think so logical, don't you, Deadpan? It always has to make sense." she sighed trying to think of what would console him the most, but then just started to tell him everything she had "...I could tell you... a lot of things. I could tell you that what you feel now is though not rational but certainly very human. I could tell you that what you did was necessary. That the situation you were in was a lose-lose one, which nobody, not even with your abilities could have turned. And that you made the right choices for your friends and crewmates. You saved them. I could tell you that I have been in an abusive relationship, where I was made to think that all my choices were mine throughout. Whereas if you are left with no choice but one, then that choice is not yours at all. I could tell you that I cannot imagine you being violent with anybody, if it is not absolutely necessary. With the strength you possess, it's a huge thing, you know. But... these are all things that a therapist could tell you, or could make you understand. A therapist can make you forgive yourself the way you now think others could never do. But what I need you to know is... that I don't want to be anywhere else right now. Only with you. And that despite the fact that I'm constantly scared of you, right now, I feel no fear. No fear at all."

He shook his head still exasperated: "But THAT does not make sense! No sense at all!"

"Feelings are like that, Data. Don't try to fight it! Accept what I feel for what it is! Do you think you can do that?"

"I do not know!"

She squeezed his hands in hers tightly "Then this is part of your problem. You still try to define yourself as the android who has an emotion-chip. Why don't you try to begin to define yourself as a person?"

"I am a person! My sentience was proven years ago. I DO know that I am a person!"

"No, Data, you don't! If your only reaction to frightening emotions is to turn them off, then you don't know that you are a person. People are not able to turn their emotions off. We fight them, accept them, run away from them, whatever, but we don't have the ability to simply dismiss them."

This seemed to hit a nerve, but Emma was not sure why or how. She waited for him to talk again. And he did:

"When I was found... and I was evolving into sentience, I repeatedly had issues with integrating more complex thought-processes onto my neural net. At times, I was considering resetting myself to system default values to start all over again, it was so difficult. Then after a while, I realized I should view my obstacles as difficulties to be overcome instead of constantly considering starting over again. What you are suggesting is that integrating my emotion-chip into my net is creating a similar situation I had encountered early in my life."

"You can put it that way if it's easier for you to digest." she smiled stroking his hand with her thumb "For what it's worth, you may as well try to enjoy having emotions. Don't tell me that only negative experiences emerged from having it so far, because the ceiling might fall on us."

He tried to find a reference and failed so he gazed up to the ceiling then back at her: "Why would it fall on us?"

She laughed out loud: "It is a saying on Epsilon. If you tell a lie, the ceiling might fall on your head."

He shook his head ever serious: "I am not going to lie, I did have positive experiences since I had the chip. Some of them... involved you." he confessed suddenly, but still wearing the deadpan expression he usually did.

She couldn't help herself and cuddled up to him again. He held her close as she buried her face in his shoulder inhaling his clear scent deeply. She slipped her arms under his armpits then slid her hands down his back and held him by the waist. His nearness sent her mind into a trance-like state once again. All her rational thoughts somehow were dismissed, and she wanted nothing but to continue what they had started on the floor. All her fears, all her doubts forgotten.

She pulled away a little to be able to look into his eyes. Her pupils were dilated, and her chest heaving from breathing heavily. She stroked his cheek tenderly: "Would you like to..." she ran out of breath, her heart was racing! "...to make more positive memories and return me the favour of helping to undress?"

His mind went blank again. Undress you. Undress you! "Yes, I would like to." he whispered just as enchanted as she was. She smiled seeing his expression and guided his hand to her throat to find the fastenings of her uniform. He started to pull it down, and a smile flickered over his features as some of her soft skin appeared under the fabric of her clothes. He opened her uniform top and watched as if a spell was cast on him as she took the garment off and threw it away carelessly.

"What is it?" she asked a bit frowning at his expression.

He gazed over at her upper body covered only by a thin, sleeveless under-shirt - and it was plain she had no bra on underneath... He then stared into her eyes with childlike wonder: "You are so beautiful!"

She searched his eyes as if to make sure that he really had said what she had heard. It'd been a while since anybody had told her anything like. She slid as close to him as she could and pushed herself up against his chest sliding her arms around his neck. She embraced him gratefully, hoping he could somehow feel how valuable that one, innocent sentence was for her.

He took her into his arms, and struck by a sudden idea, pulled her across his lap. She smiled at the unexpected motion, and straddling him, she looked down into his eyes as she took his face into her hands. Their lips were an inch away, and she smiled mischievously down at him: she wanted his lips now so bad, she needed to tease him and herself a little more!

She ran her fingers through his hair making him lean his head a little backward, and she lowered her lips onto his upturned chin. She kissed him there touching him first only with her lips, then kissing him again at the exact same spot, she flicked her tongue over his skin. The sensation drew a small moan from him. She then went slightly upward with the kisses following the slight hollow between his chin and his lower lip. She then kissed the very edge of his lower lip. He tried to turn his head to claim her mouth, but she raised her head and looked down at him again. He was only looking at her mouth, and she could see how much he wanted to kiss her. But she was not yet done with her teasing.

She stroked his cheeks with her thumbs and lowered her lips to the bridge of his nose. She then slowly kissed her way down his nose. At the tip, she stopped for a moment "I love your nose..." she breathed as she kissed him there gently. Then went lower again towards his lips. She kissed the skin between his nose and upper lip. When she got to his lips, he moaned and tried to catch her lips with his once more, but she again pulled away playfully and just gazed at him smiling.

"Emma..." he moaned frustrated and searched her eyes.

"Hmm..." she chuckled softly lowering her lips again to his skin "so it takes to sit on your lap to be on first name terms with you!" she murmured against his chin then planted another kiss there.

He gave her a needy grunt at this and tried to look into her eyes: "Do you not want to kiss me?" he asked, and his innocence again took her breath away. He gazed at her lips, as if he was hungry - a sensation she knew he had never felt.

She smiled at him lovingly and stroked his hair again: "More than anything." she whispered "Only to want it feels good. To want you..." she confessed.

He was not sure he comprehended in any way that could be considered rational. But he felt he understood. He smiled at her amazed, but before he could close the distance to finally kiss her, they suddenly heard a desperate meowing coming from the floor beside them. They gazed in the direction of the sound just to see Spot jumping up on the bed next to them. Emma chuckled, Data just stared at his cat questioningly. Spot was walking up and down in circles next to them on the bedclothes and was meowing as if her life was in danger.

"Spot, could you give us a..." he started, but the cat put her forepaws on Emma's knee and literally drilled her head under Data's armpit to be as close to him as possible "Spot!" he gazed at her exasperated.

Emma laughed out loud "Come here, little girl!" she told the cat and pushing one of his arms away, helped her sit between her and Data, in his lap "Oh, you're heavy! Come now, don't be jealous! Daddy loves you the same as always!" she told her rubbing behind the cat's ear.

"She is NOT jealous." he told her disillusioned "She is just ... ready to starve to death before our very eyes. She usually gets food at 6 in the morning." he explained and couldn't resist a small smile, his lips turning upward almost on their own accord as he was stroking his cat's head lovingly "We cannot be a minute late, can we?" he asked Spot cocking his head to one side.

Emma watched them with a tender smile for a moment longer, then a thought struck her: "What time is it, Deadpan?" she asked as if waken from a dream.

Data looked at her still absently stroking his cat's fur with one hand and Emma's thigh with the other "06:12. Why?"

This time, she cocked her head and frowned at him suspiciously. She looked around to see where he could have spotted the time "You sure? How do you know?"

"Checked my internal chronometer." he mumbled a bit slowly as he was trying to figure out what he should do first: give food to Spot or try to kiss Emma on the lips. "Come here..." he breathed, when he finally decided and tried to push his lips up to hers.

But instead of rewarding his patience with a kiss, all of a sudden, Emma pulled away! She disentangled from his arms and jumped up "I'm late, Deadpan! I'm screwed!" she started to look for her uniform top "Ah shit, where is it?" she swore swirling around.

Data sat there as if a bucket of cold water was poured right into his neck. He looked at her almost shocked "Emma! You are not planning to leave just now, are you?" he asked before he rationally thought it over, meanwhile tried to fend off Spot's flattering that started to be a bit violent. The cat was trying to climb up his chest, into his neck with her nails out, and though he could feel no pain, he hated when Spot tore his clothes.

Putting on her uniform top, Emma gazed at him standing a good meter away from him, and had to smile at the scene. He was sitting there totally frustrated at the edge of his bed, while the cat was all over him. She laughed out loud "I suppose there's someone in this room, who is a lot more willing in taking her affection to the physical level than I am at the moment."

He slouched, and after a moment of conscious effort of stifling his arousal, he stood up with Spot still in one of his arms and crossed to Emma "I feed her, and she will nap for half a day, just wait a moment, please!" he asked almost desperate.

She laughed again "And what am I gonna tell at sickbay?" she asked reaching up and stroking his hair and ear "That my superior officer ordered me into his bed? Hmmm?"

He bowed his head. She was right. He was being ridiculous. "You would get into trouble because of me..." he looked into her eyes with his innocent yellow gaze "Forgive me. I was not thinking straight."

"Oh, come on..." she whispered and taking him into her arms along with Spot, she planted a kiss on his shoulder "Thinking straight was not one of my virtues tonight either." she whispered to him lovingly.

He put an arm around her pulling her closer and whispered into her ear "You go to sickbay now. I feed Spot. And we will continue with the mutual exploration of our bodies after you have finished your shift."

She laughed out loud again: "I LOVE it when you talk dirty!"

Data looked perplexed for a moment running his last sentence through his databanks on sexuality to look for any 'dirty' talk. When he failed to find anything, he decided that Emma was once again teasing him.

"Are you planning to keep up with teasing me even after we commenced our bodily relationship?" he asked looking into her eyes.

She grinned mischievously: "I hope I won't have any reason to tease you about that!" He looked at her seemingly shy, and Spot meowed in complete dissatisfaction seeing that nobody was paying attention to her. They looked at her in union, and Data finally put her down on the floor gently. The cat ran up to her bowl and seemingly tried to flatter the bowl itself to produce some food for her. They smiled at the scene.

Emma then took Data's hand firmly in hers and gazed seriously into his eyes "Promise me something." she asked on a low voice.

He wanted to say 'Anything.', but that would not have been in correlation with the truth. So he just asked: "What do you wish me to promise you?"

"Promise you go to Counsellor Troi today and talk to her. About what you told me."

He bowed his head suddenly totally dismayed: "I have told YOU. Is that not enough?" he asked pleadingly feeling ashamed.

She shook her head: "No."

He turned his head away sulking, but she didn't let him. She put her fingertips below his chin and made him look into her eyes: "Listen to me, Deadpan. I have seen people with post-traumatic stress before. I went through it myself. With all the flashbacks, even hallucinations, and the nightmares. I can recognize it, if I see it, and..." he tried to turn his head away still not wanting to admit to what she was telling him. She turned his face towards her again gently but firmly by the chin "...and you ARE having a problem! Telling me about it was a huge step. And I'm not gonna belittle the trust and courage it took from you to do it. But you need help. And I cannot give you that, because I'm not a therapist. Believe me. It's like a roller-coaster. Sometimes you feel okay, the next moment, it's worse than ever. You need to treat it, before it consumes your life. You can come and talk to me about it anytime you like. But I want you to get the best help that you can." she stroked his cheek "Okay?"

He bowed his head a little, and she squeezed his hand in hers. He gazed into her eyes and nodded finally: "Okay." he replied and felt fear grip his chest once again. He had what? A few hours free of it? Would it ever go away completely? he thought bitterly.

"Don't look so desperate, please, because it breaks my heart!" she told him, and taking her by surprise, he held her close. Maybe her nearness would be enough! Now that she was here, everything seemed easier. Maybe he just had to hold on to her. And everything would be fine again. He took a deep liberating breath and closed his eyes.

After a minute however, she stroked his hair gently "Data, I need to go..." she whispered kissing him on the cheek, and he reluctantly let her go.

She looked back at him from the doorway and smiled "Have a nice day, Deadpan! See you at the rehearsal." And she was off.

On impulse, he threw himself over his bed and lay on his back spreading his arms wide. He took a deep breath closing his eyes. Her fragrance was still there in his room. A human wouldn't have sensed it. But he did. His lips curved up into a small smile.

How could his world turn just like this in a few hours?! He felt free, completely free! No more fear! No more shame! He was himself again! And even more than himself! Something new, something wonderful was around him and even within him! Something he had never before felt.

There was still almost ten hours until the rehearsal. He needed to do something till then - but nothing seemed interesting that didn't have her in it. He sighed. Right at the moment breathing seemed the most interesting thing he could have thought of doing.

At the next moment, a bomb of fur landed upon his chest drawing a grunt from him. Opening his eyes, he locked gazes with Spot, who looked down at him with ultimate resentment. He smiled at her a slow, lopsided smile, then suddenly grabbed the cat in an almost violent display of affection and held her close. Spot was so surprised that she didn't even utter a whimper as Data pressed his lips to her forehead lovingly. The next moment, he stood up with her in one smooth motion "Let's get you some breakfast." he told her and went to the replicator to the cat's great satisfaction.


	17. Chapter 17

Emma had barely any time that day to think about all that had happened during the night. She was late, and unlucky her, Bev was substituted by a Doctor Powell who had been very unfriendly to her from day one. He told her off for everything she did. Nothing was good enough for him, and if it was, his complain was that she did her job too slow. Finally, at around 1 PM Beverly turned up, and all of a sudden Doctor Powell cut back on his strictness.

Emma didn't have a break all day, so when she had to wait for an analysis in the small xenobiology lab, she took the opportunity and sat down wearily. She propped her chin up on her hand and sighed feeling exhaustion catching up on her. After all, she had only four hours of sleep. She sighed and smiled as she closed her eyes and let the image of Data and the events of the morning creep into her thoughts finally. An overwhelming warm feeling spread all around her body as she sank deeper and deeper into her memories... She was about to nod off, when somebody touched her shoulder.

She looked up with unfocused eyes and saw her red-head friend:

"Bev..." she mumbled still with a smile on her face.

Beverly sat next to her and jabbed a finger at her in mock-reprimand: "Dozing off on duty is not the way to get a promotion, Ms. Jones."

Emma chuckled wiping her eyes: "I figured as much. Though... with Doctor Powell around, I wouldn't get a promotion, if I worked 24/7 without any stop..."

Bev nodded a little uneasy: "Well... he wanted to bring his daughter on board, and couldn't because the position was filled by you. He'll hold a grudge for a while, no doubt."

"Shit..." Emma gazed away rubbing her forehead with the tip of her fingers. Smile gone.

"I figure you're so sleepy because you studied till late at night for your exam. How is it coming?"

"Hmmph..." Emma shrugged "So-so..."

"Emma. You need to pass the Differential Exam to stay on-board, you know it."

"Yeah, I know, don't worry about it, Bev. It'll be fine." Emma tried to sound convincing, but Beverly still looked at her a bit uneasy, so Emma touched her hand "Really, Bev, it'll be fine."

Beverly sighed "Maybe I was wrong in dragging you into taking the main role in the play. You have enough on your hands with coping with the job and this exam."

Emma chuckled: "Data has the main role, I'm just doing the backing vocal for him." she teased.

"Oh, come on..." Bev chuckled "Excessive modesty doesn't become you." they both laughed a little, then Beverly looked at Emma with a serious expression "Are you going to tell me what happened last night?"

Emma sighed, her face suddenly grim. She didn't want to betray Data's trust, so most of what happened she wouldn't be able to tell anyways. Even though it would have been good to talk about it.

After a minute of silence, Beverly pushed her a little forward: "Does it have anything to do with a certain android we both know?"

Emma looked at her surprised: "Why would you think that?"

"Because I just paid a visit to him, and he seemed so preoccupied that I had the impression he wouldn't have been able to remember his cat's name, if I'd asked. I asked him why he seemed so distracted, but he would just wave my concerns away."

Emma sighed and looked away concerned: "Maybe I should check him out..." she breathed.

Bev looked at her surprised - what was this sudden worry for someone whom she couldn't get along with outside of the rehearsals at all? "He seemed fine, only a little preoccupied." she answered finally, and Emma nodded still looking quite uneasy. Beverly was thinking about letting the subject go, but Emma's reaction made her even more curious, and she did know her friend pretty well. She knew Emma wanted to talk, only didn't know how to begin. "What happened yesterday? You both seemed distracted on stage. Then today you both are preoccupied. ...It's really none of my business, but-"

"Come on, Bev. Of course it's your business, it's your play we are screwing with." Emma winced feeling a little guilty.

"I'm not worried about the play. I'm rather worried about you and him. I'm still not sure it was a wise idea to team the two of you up. No matter how much you click on stage. You two are like fire and ice, and your relationship seems nothing but strained, when you're not acting. It makes me very worried to be honest." Beverly admitted.

Emma bit her lower lip and looked away for a moment. She shrugged a little "Well, we... we managed to straighten our stuff out last night." she said almost to herself.

Beverly gaped at her "Emma!" Oh, no! Not again! She had watched this movie before, and it was more than enough once! The same thing was happening with Emma and the man who later became her husband: one moment, they were tearing each other's flesh off - each other's clothes at the next...

The younger woman looked back at her almost as if waking from a dream "I-I didn't mean it that way, I..."

"Emma, you said yourself, you don't want to get involved with anybody until the divorce is official! And Data is not in any condition to start a relationship - let alone a fling. I've told you, he has some unsolved..."

"It's not a fling, Bev!" Emma blurted cutting in and looked into Bev's eyes with a hint of desperation. She shook her head helplessly "Bev... I-I really don't know what it is... I... I'm drawn to him. I have no idea how or why, but it's strong and..." she trailed off looking away confused.

After another moment of silence, Beverly tried to pour some rationality into the head of her utterly confused friend: "Emma. Remember what you told me the first week you were here? You told me, as long as you are married, you don't want to get involved with anybody, because Ed's still watching every step of yours to get back on you at court. And you know as well as I do that Data is a sensitive man. You cannot just play around with him and then leave him when the situation turns out bad."

"Bev! Just stop! I'd never play around with him like that! I may be a bitch, but I'm not a heartless monster!" Emma told her indignant.

"No one said you were!" Bev replied and took the hand of her agitated friend in hers to try to calm her down "Hey, sweetie, chill out! I'm not accusing you of anything, just want you to have a clear head!"

Emma sighed and squeezed her hand. She seemed calmer but had an almost shaken expression on her face. She nodded finally feeling a sudden catch in her throat. Why did reality always have to come knocking on her door, when she felt even a small measure of happiness? She drew in a shaky breath "I-I will talk to him."

"Em, I'm not saying that celibating is the right choice. It can be that a relationship would do both of you a lot of good. If... it's really more than just some fooling around. I just want you to think and not to go into anything with your eyes shut. I care about both you and Data. I don't want either of you to get hurt." Beverly tried to convince her.

Emma felt the conversation was like a bucket of cold water. As if reality just hit her in the face with a huge hard fist. Beverly took her hand away with one last gentle squeeze, and Emma tried to smile at her.

"You're right. I should make him aware of all the factors in the equation. Before we get into this too deep."

Beverly felt guilty for making Emma look so dismayed. She winced a little "I'm sorry I spoiled your mood. I just don't want either of you to get hurt..."

Emma chuckled now trying hard to look nonchalant "Don't worry, mom! I'm quite used to heart-break, we just need to make sure to keep HIM out of harms way."

They shared a small smile, before the computer chirped, and Emma stood up to check the analysis.


	18. Chapter 18

_The scene is changing again. He is now walking on the deck of a ship. It's a sunny day, and the sun rays sparkle brightly on the waves of the ocean. On the deck, people are sitting around small tables chatting cheerfully, and He is getting the impression that the happy noise is turning into a melody:_

_"Gone is the romance that was so divine" the men sing._   
_"It's broken and cannot be mended." the ladies reply._   
_"You must go your way, and I must go mine._   
_But now that our love dreams have ended..." they sing together._

_A man steps up to him as He gazes over the ocean and hands him a piece of paper:_

_"A cable has arrived for you, Sir."_

_"Oh, thanks." He takes the paper and looks at the man frowning "Aren't you guys the Mariachi?"_

_The man chuckles softly "We're Strolling Trubadours now, Sir."_

_"Hmm... Say, would you mind reading this? I must have left my glasses in my cabin."_

_"Oh, certainly, Sir." the Trubadour takes back the note and starts reading it "I found your girl. Stop. Living with another man. Stop. Seems a dangerous character. Stop. If I were you, I'd. Stop."_

_"Hmm... Already found somebody else..." He muses disappointed._

_"I'm sorry, Sir. Is there anything we can do?"_

_"Yeah... Give me a C!"_

_And He starts singing the rest of the melody, He has just heard:_

_"What'll I do_   
_When you are far away_   
_And I am blue_   
_What'll I do?_

_What'll I do?_   
_When I am wond'ring who_   
_Is kissing you_   
_What'll I do?_

_What'll I do with just a photograph_   
_To tell my troubles to?_

_When I'm alone_   
_With only dreams of you_   
_That won't come true_   
_What'll I do?"_

_They hear the sound of the horn suddenly, and the Captain's voice cut through the air:_

_"Iceberg! Iceberg ahead! All passengers on deck!"_

_The ship is sinking, and before long, He is fighting for his life in the water. All the events of Dreamland play out in his head:_

_"Do you know a place called El Parador?" her voice reverberates in the air._   
_"Nonono, don't come in!"_   
_"Sugar, you've got a terrific guy here!"_   
_"Yeah, I thought so!"_   
_"Oh, come on... Take a chance!"_

_He tosses and turns in his bed:_

_"Baby, please! It was all my fault! I didn't even know her... Please, give me another chance! Give me another chance!" He mumbles softly as He falls back to sleep._

_After some more tossing and turning, He suddenly finds himself comfortably performing on the stage of a Club. This is not his first performance, and He is easily enchanting the audience with his charm._

_"So I said, Baby, please, give me another chance! And she said, Buddy, you must be dreaming!" then he starts singing his cheerful song:_

_"Please don't talk about me when I'm gone_   
_Though our friendship ceases from now on_   
_And listen, if you can't say anything real nice_   
_It's better not to talk at all, that's my advice_

_We're parting, you go your way, I'll go mine, it's best that we do_   
_Here's a kiss, I hope that this brings lots of luck to you_   
_Makes no difference how I carry on_   
_Just don't you talk about me when I'm gone"_

_The song ends, the audience applauds cheerfully._

_"Thank you! You've been a beautiful audience!" He calls then leaves the stage to sit at the bar._

* * *

"So the basic concept is," Reg started his explanation as he, Beverly, Sonya and Emma were standing in the grid-patterned holodeck room "that we use the house itself and the audience as the settings wherever possible." he pushed a few buttons on the padd in his hands, and the settings changed into a restaurant. "We could use the lighting to emphasise the place of the characters." The main lights turned lower, and two tables across the room were bathed in soft light. All the settings were black and white. "Emma would sit there," Reg pointed to a table "and Data across the room. We would always leave space for the stage, in the restaurant set, the Mariachi would be on it, in the Club scene later on, the performers would sing on stage, then He could come down to sit in the bar... And with the ship scene, Data and the Trobadour would have their conversation up on the stage." he changed the setting to the ship as he talked "And with other sets, like the street for example," he changed the set to the street, the light went out in the house, and stayed on only at the stage "the audience would not be used as background, everything would be played out on the stage."

He looked at them shy but expectantly, and they gaped at him in admiration. He seemed to turn impossibly red as Beverly told him, that she liked what he did with the settings. And Sonya was as proud as if SHE was praised.

Emma just couldn't resist, she slipped her arm around Reg's waist: "My-my, you are one hell of a creative guy, Reginald!" she glanced towards Sonya who blushed with fury, and she went on playfully pinching his flushed cheek "This whole is freaking amazing, you know! Or should I say" she snuggled up against his chest as he was staring at her with wide eyes "YOU are amazing?" She glanced up at him through her lashes "It seems that there is a lot more to you that meets the eye - under that strict engineer uniform of yours." she blinked at him seductively - and felt him tremble against her "T-t-thank you." he stammered. Complete terror on his features.

"Emma..." Beverly told her on a reprimanding voice.

She giggled and let Reg go just to step over to Sonya "Oh, stop sulking, Sugar! You've got a terrific guy here!" she quoted the line Sonya tried to tease her with during the previous rehearsal, then walked away giggling.

Before Sonya could blow up and Beverly could tell Emma off, the door opened and Data entered.

The smugness suddenly disappeared from Emma's features, and she watched him walking in with genuine affection in her eyes. Before anyone could notice, however, she composed her features, and by the time he got up to them on the stage, the smugness returned.

"Am I late?" Data asked politely knowing full well that he was in fact early.

"No, Deadpan, we are all early, you are just late compared to us eager-beavers." Emma answered, and as Data looked at her, he once again wondered whether she could read his mind.

"Hi, Data." Beverly smiled, and the others greeted him as well.

They showed him the new settings then went on to practise the scene that yesterday didn't go well. This time, they nailed it perfectly. Also Emma sang her own song of farewell with such genuine sadness that Reg had to make a conscious effort to stop himself from breaking down in tears.

They went on with the scene of the ship, when they got an unexpected guest. Will Riker stepped through the holodeck door and greeted them with the usual joviality.

"Hi, Beverly! Do you have space for a stray musician in that musical of yours?"

"Will!" she smiled and invited him in. He walked up to them on the 'deck of the ship', where they all were standing.

"You've got a terrific settings here!" he complemented looking around and out on the 'sea'.

"So, you do have the time to take part after all." Beverly looked at him with a suspicious smile "A few weeks ago, you were all busy with 'crew-evaluations'." she made quotation marks with two of her fingers but never stopped smiling kindly.

Will ignored her teasing and started to explain on a serious tone "You know what a hectic period that is usually. But we finished it on time with Deanna. I should say it's a record, usually it takes at least three sleepless nights to get it over with, but this year, we managed to do it in two."

"Not that you mind spending those sleepless nights with that pretty therapist of yours." Emma mumbled under her breath. Data was the only one to catch what she actually said, the others only heard her mumbling. She instantly regretted saying anything as all the gazes were fixed on her.

Will smiled at her his usual charming smile and extended a hand: "I don't think we introduced properly. Will Riker, and you are Emma Jones, if I'm not misinformed."

She eyed him for a short moment with an unfriendly expression, then stepped up to him and shook his hand: "Actually, you are. Your informer forgot to tell you my middle name: it's 'married'." she sneered taking her hand away as quickly as she could. Will looked at her surprised but not at all put off, while Beverly put her face in her palm.

Finally, the red-headed doctor spoke: "Let's take a small break, so I can discuss this with Will."

"Sure!" Emma nodded walking away and added casually "Hey, Broccoli! Conjure up that bar over there! Let's have at least some fragment of enjoyment here!"

Reg took his padd from where he left it on a seat and obediently pressed some buttons. By the time, Emma got to the far end of the room, the bar appeared with some bar stools around it.

"Very charming! Reminds me of a mustang needing some breaking in - with a whip." Will joked knowing that the stubborn mare in question was out of earshot.

"That is a bit too harsh." Beverly told him now on a serious tone. Kind smile gone.

"No, Beverly!" Sonya spoke up for the first time that day "He is right! She is horrible. I wouldn't care, if I could work with her on stage, but it's impossible to work with her! Talk to her! Or Reg and I are out!"

Beverly looked at them shocked. She never thought they would reach this point: "Reg. Do you agree?"

Reg stood there seemingly muted and petrified. He looked over at Emma at the bar then at Sonya next to him, only his eyes moving. Finally, he rested his gaze on Beverly: "I-I really d-d-don't want to cause..." he started, then Sonya poked him on the side "I-I mean, yes I do." he slouched.

"Uh, it seems I have put my foot in it!" Will winced.

"No, Commander! It's not your fault, only hers!" Sonya growled with a hostility neither Reg nor Beverly had ever seen from her.

Beverly looked over at Data who stood a little farther away and glanced over at Emma fixing herself a drink at the bar.

"And you Data? What do you think?" she asked sincerely curious.

"Yes, Commander." Sonya nodded "You have to spend with her the most time, so you suffer most from her. What do you think?"

He gazed at them with his usual unreadable expression and stepped up to them to disappoint Sonya "I understand your concerns, Lieutenant Gomez. However, after thorough analysis, I may venture to say that I understand how Ms. Jones' personality works. After getting to know her better, you may find out just as I did, that she does not mean any of the teasing she applies in her personal relationships. Perhaps if you tried making friends with her..."

"Making friends! With HER!" Sonya blew up "Rather make friends with a Klingon Targ!"

Data cocked his head and looked sideways seemingly uncomfortable "I wonder how you expect a person to abide by your rules of interaction, if you do not wish to interact with her at all. If you would excuse me." he finished then walked up to Emma at the bar leaving them with a heavy thought to consider.

He watched her as she sipped her drink. She made a great show of not noticing him, but he knew that she did. He arrived next to her and was about to sit on the bar stool next to hers, when she turned to him and stopped him pushing him away:

"No-no-no, Deadpan! Over there!" she pointed to the other side of the counter. Data looked into her eyes confused, and she went on "I will not be responsible for my actions, if you are so close, and we're not on stage with all eyes on us to stop me. Over there! There's a good boy!" she praised smiling as he obeyed and stood opposite of her.

"We have all the eyes on us. You. More precisely." he stated on a blank voice as she sipped the last of her drink.

She grunted and pushed her empty glass towards him with a seductive smile "Fix me another one, handsome!" she purred on a low voice. He gave her a small smile then complied and started to make her another Cosmopolitan. After a minute, she spoke again: "So. Am I voted out of the play yet?" she asked on a seemingly nonchalant voice.

Data poured her drink into a clean glass and looked into her eyes "I would not let such a thing to happen." he told her on a low voice that sent a rush of warmth through Emma's insides. He put her drink in front of her, and she couldn't resist to run her fingers over the back of his hand.

"You really wouldn't?" she muttered leaning very close to his face. She looked from his lips to his eyes and back.

"No. I would not." he whispered touching the tip of his nose to hers for an instant. Then suddenly pulled away and looked at her with his usual deadpan expression: "And neither would Doctor Crusher. However, Lieutenant Gomez and Barclay are extremely unsatisfied with how you treat them. It would be advisable for you to change the behavioural patterns you apply in relation to them."

Emma suddenly became irritated: "Let ME decide on how I treat people, alright Deadpan? And for the records, they weren't very friendly with me either from day zero. Miss Sugar constantly spitting jealousy at me, and Broccoli acting as if I was his only obstacle at getting into her panties, so let's not measure each other, because the tip of the scales may show an even balance, to their misfortune."

Data needed a micro-second more to process all of the information she had poured on him including the crude sexual reference, then: "I pointed out to them that it takes two for an interpersonal relationship to work, however I have to point out to YOU that the proverbial scale that you are mentioning tips in favour of those who make the effort. You, I reluctantly have to admit, do not."

Emma gazed ahead with surprise on her features then looked up at him almost amazed: "You... actually defended me? Even if you think that I don't deserve it?"

Data leaned closer to her resting his forearms on the counter "I did not say that you do not deserve defence." he told her on a low voice. He glanced away with an uncomfortable expression then back at her with a serious frown "Emma. Interpersonal relationships, and the ability to work within a group are integral part of crew-evaluations which are the basis of transfers. I do not wish you to leave the Enterprise, because people think it is not easy to work with you. Especially, now that I know that you are not as difficult as you want others to view you."

She had to gap at him.

Meanwhile on stage, Beverly and the others agreed that she would talk to Emma, and they would all give her another - a final - chance. Then they went back to discuss, if Will could have a role too in the play.

"There are musicians in the play, but not specifically playing the trombone." Beverly tapped on her padd to check around in the script.

Reg raised his forefinger the way he always did, when he asked for attention "T-the Commander could play the parts of the boss of the Mariachi and t-the T-Trubadours. It would be practical because in the restaurant scene, there's also the role of the host, and I wouldn't be able to play two parts at the same time, so we'd have to fill in with a holograph anyway." he finished wringing his hands.

Beverly looked at Will delighted: "So it seems you have your roles!" she handed him her padd "Here you go, the full script. You won't have a lot of sentences, but at least you are playing musicians as you wished!" she smiled.

"Just what I need!" he grinned looking at the padd.

"Ah while we are at the settings." Beverly looked over at Reg again "You mentioned that you were having trouble with the part, where He is drifting in and out of sleep."

"Yes, Beverly." Reg nodded "It should be a turmoil of sounds but not too spooky. Rather confused. Still I cannot seem to find the correct balance."

"Show us, Reg, maybe we could make something up." Beverly asked.

At the bar, Emma tentatively smiled at Data "You ARE a knight in shining armour, you know that." she wanted to ask, but it came out as a statement.

He furrowed his brow and cocked his head: "Are you teasing me again?"

She chuckled: "No. This time, I'm dead serious. And you're sweet. And you should be with a decent girl and not the wretched bitch you are talking to now."

His frown deepened "I believe I have mentioned that your words are unbecoming of a Starfleet officer. And you should also be aware of the fact that I do not regard you a contemptible female canine. Or any other meaning of that word."

Emma giggled like a teenage girl: "Tell me! Do you really take every word so literally?"

"Most." Data answered somewhat self-consciously "However, I also noticed that my interpreting every word in the literal sense often causes a jocular reaction amongst humans. And as I always have struggled to figure out what it is like to be funny, I decided to use this disadvantage to my advantage, even if I realize that the words are used in a figurative manner." he explained meticulously.

"You are amazing!" she shook her head with a wide grin of admiration. He smiled shyly, and their gazes locked once again. As they leaned closer, she brushed her nose against his playfully, and they both chuckled.

Then suddenly a turmoil of voices filled the room. Human voices talking in an incoherent jumble of sentences. They looked up startled.

"Ohshit! My freaking heart just stopped!" she said looking over to the stage putting a hand on her chest. She saw that Reg was fidgeting with his padd, and she released a long breath "Stupid Broccoli!" she growled looking back at Data.

He was standing there petrified. He was staring ahead with unfocused eyes, distant, and she knew what was happening to him again. "Data!" she grabbed his shoulders and tried to make him look at her "Do you hear me?!" she shook him forcefully tearing at his uniform sleeves "Stop it! It's not real! Don't go there! Do you hear me?" the voices stopped just as suddenly, and his eyes started to move, his body relaxed "That's it! Stay with me! Okay? I'm here! Look at me!"

He took a deep breath as the world came back into focus again. He blinked confused and looked into her eyes pleading for help. Then his shoulders slouched, and he bowed his head. It happened again! It happened AGAIN! She pulled him as close as she could with the counter still between the two of them and stroked his shoulder and hair gently. He snuggled his face into the nape of her neck and let her hold him close. It will never be over! Never!

After a minute or so, he pulled away and looked into her eyes shaken: "It was..." he whispered "...It was like the collective. All those voices. All made sense individually. And yet were all the same..." his voice broke, his face beyond desperation.

She stroked his cheek tenderly "It's okay, it's over now."

But he shook his head agitated "Why is it coming back?! Today, I was fine! After talking to you last night, everything seemed to be easier! Why..." he pleaded in agony.

"I told you. It sneaks up on you, when you least expect it. You need professional help to get better... Have you been to Counsellor Troi?" she asked firmly.

He bowed his head with a distressed expression: "No. I thought it would..."

"I told you it wouldn't! I told you you need to go to a therapist!" she retorted, and he looked at her shocked and hurt. She suddenly felt terrible. Here he was, needing help, and she was shouting at him. "I'm sorry." she breathed and took his hand "I hate it if somebody tells me 'I told you so', and here I am telling you that!" he looked at her still hurt, and she tried again "Please, forgive me!" she asked on a pleading voice, and his features softened a little as he bowed his head.

Suddenly, they heard Beverly's raised voice "Hey! Are you coming back to go on?" and they complied.

Will was about to leave, and he leaned close to Data on his way to the door. "I can see her middle name applies only for humans."

Walking up to Reg, Emma snatched his padd out of his hand and hit him with it on the arm glaring up at him as he nursed his arm taken aback: "If you put us into the surroundings of freaking Psycho again without any freaking warning beforehand, Broccoli, I will rip your freaking head off!" she pushed the padd back into his hand and walked away - and all Reg's doubts about the complain they had 'filed' against her at Doctor Crusher were dismissed at once.

Will chuckled and shook his head tapping Data on the shoulder: "Good luck with the taming of the shrew, my friend!" he told him on a low voice, then was on his way before Data could answer.


	19. Chapter 19

The rest of the rehearsal went on in relative peace. When it was over, Beverly asked Emma for some talk, and Data left the holodeck alone. He was not able to crawl out from under the effect of his powerful flashback throughout the rehearsal. Though he made certain that nobody noticed his utter distress. He managed to isolate his ability to act from the processes the emotion-chip was using much the same way he was taking up Bridge duty for the last two months.

His legs brought him to Counsellor Troi's office, but he just couldn't make himself press the door chime. Deanna found him outside in the corridor after hours and brought him inside. After sitting on the couch for a few minutes in silence, he somehow managed to start to talk. With every sentence he uttered, she listened with growing shock and dread.

The next thing Data became aware of was Deanna holding his hand sitting next to him on her couch. Reciting the whole story again with every detail, sent his mind into several flashbacks, and finally, she ended up next to him and comforted him gently.

Before long however, they were sitting together on another couch. This time, it was in the Captain's ready room, and Deanna did as the regulations dictated: she asked Picard to relieve Data of duty. With flashbacks of this magnitude and even hallucinations, he couldn't be trusted with commanding a ship with a thousand on board.

"I'm sorry, Data." the Captain told him on a low voice "I have no other choice." he never thought that this whole would turn out like this.

Data gazed up at him with his usual unreadable expression, but the Captain saw something in his eyes that made him feel horribly guilty. Ever since he and Beverly talked about Data's issues, he always thought about talking to his android friend, but ...he could never make himself to actually do it. Experiences with the Borg was not a topic he was ready to face himself.

"It is alright, Captain." Data said on such a low voice, the last word almost died on his lips "I am sorry. I abused your trust. I should have told you about the things I experience earlier."

"No, Data." Deanna told him and took his hand firmly in hers "We should have paid a lot more attention to you."

He turned his head slowly to her and gazed into her eyes "Thank you, Counsellor." his voice was so colorless that Deanna was certain that he had switched off his emotion-chip. He turned his gaze back to Picard "May I go now, Captain?"

"Yes, Data." the Captain nodded.

Data stood and Deanna stood with him "Data, what if we went back to my office and talked some more-"

"Thank you, Counsellor." he cut in on a silent voice "But I would rather keep to the schedule that you prescribed. I will see you tomorrow." he nodded to them and left.

Deanna and the Captain just looked after him bowing their heads feeling shaken.

"Ah, Deanna. I have never been more worried about him. Ever." the Captain hang his head.

Deanna stepped to him and put a hand on his arm out of comfort "He'll be alright. What he goes through now is a very well-known and well-researched mental condition, Captain. Therapy helps in all cases, and we both know Data. He won't miss an occasion and will do everything I suggest to him exemplary."

Picard nodded wincing "Well-researched, yes. In case of humans. But he's an android. No one has ever researched that I suppose."

"Believe me, Captain. His psyche is similar to our own. Moreover, we may even find that he exceeds human capacity in that regard as well." she tried to smile, but the Captain's face remained grim.

"I admire your optimism, Counsellor. I wish I could share it." he breathed then locked his gaze on hers "Please, do all that you can for him."

Deanna smiled and nodded.

* * *

By the time the turbolift took Data to Deck 8, the numbness he felt throughout the time he had been at the Captain's ready room turned into a tumult of emotions. He strode on the corridor with hurried steps, then as his heartbeat increased with each stride, he started to jog, then ran until he got to Emma's quarters. He raised his hand to press the door chime - he needed to talk to her! needed to hold her, kiss her, even to make love to her! He needed to be close to someone so desperately! He needed this loneliness to end...

His finger was on the door chime, when suddenly, he heard her voice in his mind 'I told you it wouldn't! I told you you need to go to a therapist!' she shouted at him on the holodeck. Just after witnessing his torturing flashback. She shouted at him. Accusingly, angrily... she needed to be RIGHT! Needed it more than anything! More than she needed him...

He slowly took his hand away from the button, squeezed his fingers into a fist and rested his forehead on her door closing his eyes. 'I want you to promise you would go to Counsellor Troi!' 'I'm sorry, Data, but we need to report this to the Captain. Immediately.' 'Data, I have no choice but to relieve you of duty...' He turned and pushed his back to her door, eyes wide open. This time, he felt something different. This time, he felt an emotion of a magnitude he hadn't felt ever since the occurrences that transpired on Ohniaka Three! He stared ahead wide-eyed, feeling a huge fist tighten in his chest as all-consuming rage flooded his mind - his own two hands coming up into tight fists.

He started to run then, his heart was racing! He wanted to... he needed to... He had to be alone! NOBODY must be anywhere near him! He leapt into a turbolift which took him to the holodeck. He pressed a button to reload the last used settings and entered to find the last settings of the theatre: a black and white deck of a ship with people walking and sitting around at tables. The sun was shining, the sound of the sea soothing.

He started to walk up to the black and white people sitting around the tables. His hands still in fists, his mind still in a fog thirsting for destruction! Even blood! He reached out to the nearest table, tore it up from, where it was nailed into the wooden deck and simply crushed into tiny pieces. The people jumped up from their chairs and started to scream. He went for the next table and tore it up just as easily. This time he just threw it away and went to the next one. And to the next one, then the next one! People bolted from his way and ran about screaming in complete terror. He picked up another table, and as he was about to throw it away, a young woman tried to run out of his way, but she tripped in her long, white dress and fell to the floor. Her neat bun untied, and the wind blew her long strands into her eyes. He threw the table away and stepped up to her. She turned on the floor and stared at him with profound dread in her eyes.

He bent down and pulled her up by the hands. The woman didn't dare to move away from his grasp, just stared into his eyes. Taking in her delicate features, he gaped at her: "Emma..." he whispered. The woman did not move, didn't even flinch. Just stood there unmoving, staring into his eyes. His hands started to move up her arms, to her shoulders and finally slid to her face. The burning rage suddenly turned into a burning desire, and he sank his fingers into her long, dishevelled hair. His mind was flooded with all his fantasies about her touching him, holding him, caressing him - creating sensations in him she had created that very morning! He drew her face up to his gently looking at her upturned lips hungrily, but the woman put her hands on his chest with a moan to push him away in fear.

This woke him, and he let her go as if she burned him. He suddenly grew scared! What was he thinking?! What was he doing?! The holograph still stared at him, and Data could finally see that none of her features resembled Emma's at all. He stared at his hands shocked as if he didn't recognize his own palms. This WAS a nightmare! He had to get away! He had to get away, now! He turned and started to run blindly, without thinking, and before he realized what was happening, he crashed into the railing with full force. The metal could not withstand his weight and impetus: it broke, and he fell off the deck. He tried to catch the edge of the deck, but his hand slipped on the wet wood, and he landed into the waves of the azure ocean with a loud splash.

His body sank like a stone, just the way it did, when he tried to swim in Lake Devala. But this time, the bottom was way deeper. He watched as the sparkling rays of the sun dancing on the waves grew dimmer and dimmer and silence grew deep - so deep he never before heard a silence like that. He opened his mouth to call out to the computer, but no sound came out of his throat, only the last remnants of air left his body in the form of small bubbles rushing to the surface. He then closed his mouth and let himself be carried by his weight. He saw strands of his dark hair dancing in front of his eyes and saw his arm and hand - his fore-finger pointing towards the ever fading light of the sun. He closed his eyes then. The feel of the ocean was like a soothing embrace. As he sank deeper and deeper, the rage fainted like the light of the sun. The tight fist in his chest loosened and finally let go. He let himself be engulfed by this eternity of tranquillity and tried to savour every moment of it.

Exactly 2.5 seconds later, the holodeck's safety routine kicked in and the computer chirped "Emergency shut down. Aborting holodeck simulation." the settings disappeared, and Data found himself lying on the yellow gridded floor of the holodeck soaked to skin. But finally calm.

He lay there for a few minutes to enjoy his new-found tranquillity then finally sat up with his back straight and wiped the wet hair out of his face. He looked over at himself and ran a quick diagnostic check. To his relief, his servos remained mercifully dry. The water had no time to find its way into them this time. He took off his uniform top and wrung it out. Maybe Geordi's idea of building a device into his system that could give him some buoyancy was not a bad one after all. He took his boots off and poured the water out of them as he mused on. If bathing in seawater had such a soothing effect on him just as if he was a human, he would utilize that device - often...


	20. Chapter 20

When Emma left the holodeck with Beverly after the rehearsal, and Emma had to let Data leave alone, she was hoping that he would finally find the courage to go to the Counsellor's office. Maybe his recent experience had been enough motivation for him to admit that he needed to seek help. But in all honesty, right at the moment, she had her own messed up self to worry about.

Beverly was quite blunt - compared to herself of course. She wanted peace in her theatre, and Emma had no choice but to promise that she would be a good girl from then on. She got home fairly late with her moods down in the dumps, but she knew she still needed to try to study. It took only half an hour for her to fall asleep over her padd.

She slept over the night on her couch. The last two days were exhausting and fatigue finally caught up with her. She slept so soundly that she didn't even dream anything. The next day, she woke to her timed alarm. It took her 20 minutes to wake up enough to get up. But at least she was not late from work that day.

Beverly greeted her with a grim expression. It was plain that something was up. "May I have a word with you." it was not a simple friendly request, and Emma followed Beverly to her office.

"What is it?" Emma asked when the door closed behind them.

"How much did you know about Data's condition?" Beverly asked on a low voice, and Emma was sure the storm was just about to come.

Emma looked at her taken aback "What are you talking about?"

"Don't do this Emma. I KNOW you knew about it!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about." or rather she had no idea what the fuss was about...

"So you need a jog of memory. Fine. Yesterday, Data walked into Counsellor Troi's office and admitted that he is having flashbacks and even hallucinations in relation to his abduction by the Borg. So I'm asking you again, did you know about it?"

Emma frowned irritated "What if I did? What difference does it make, if he ultimately went to ask for help?" she really didn't see the point of this.

"What difference?! Emma! He is a senior Bridge officer! When he is on duty, he is responsible for over a thousand people on board! If he is suffering from severe mental stress, he is like a walking time bomb! You should have reported this the moment you learned about it! What if he breaks down during a critical situation? What happens to the ship? Has that even crossed your mind?!"

"I told him he needs help! It took him a huge effort and a lot of courage to at least tell me! What was I supposed to do?! Betray his trust and sell him out to you?!"

"It's not about betraying anyone's trust, Emma! It's about rules and regulations that - whether you want them or not - apply to you as well! If you learn about the mental state of a senior officer to be so fragile that he is unfit for duty, you are obliged to report that! He knows that too, and you should know it just as well!"

"I don't give a shit about regulations that make me sell out people I love!" Emma blurted suddenly.

They both stopped and looked at each other taken aback. After a moment, Emma shook her head "I didn't mean it THAT way." she told her on a low voice. She sighed trying to calm down "Bev. I care about him. He needed to confide in somebody, whom he knew would not betray him or judge him. He was scared that he would have been judged by you, his friends. You knew him before, he was scared to disappoint you. He chose me exactly because I am not a friend, not even a close colleague. He could tell ME without fearing for consequences. And I could not just throw that trust away for rules and regulations."

"Understand, Emma." Beverly lowered her voice as well "Rules are there to protect ALL of us. Even him. It's plain that his good judgement is damaged in some way, otherwise he'd have reported his condition the moment he realized that it was so bad."

"Is that so?" Emma asked silently taking a step towards Beverly and looking deep into her eyes "I do not see any protection for him by your precious rules at all, Beverly. What does the rules say about Starfleet personnel who went through a trauma just the way he did? Isn't it standard procedure to take that person off duty and make him go to therapy until it's made sure that he can take up his daily tasks? Have you asked yourself why this rule was not applied to HIS situation?"

"He WAS examined by Counsellor Troi after the incident, but there was no reason to take him off duty! He checked out fine in all the mental tests." Beverly answered her accusations spreading her arm.

Emma rolled her eyes: "Come on! You know as well as I do that this is just an excuse! You knew that he had a problem, as well as I did. Still he was not taken off duty."

"Understand, Em! He did his job exemplary. The Captain can't just relieve people because of a hunch!"

"So the solution is to wait until he breaks down? Or some disaster happens? Why do the rules that are to protect EVERYONE fail to protect HIM? Just because his uniqueness eludes some lousy tests?" she waited for Beverly to reply, but it seemed that her friend couldn't find an answer "Well, Beverly. I would start to revise those rules, if I had any control over them."

"...she indirectly accused me - well, all of us - of mistreating Data, just because he's an android." Beverly looked up at the Captain as he sat beside her on the couch in his ready room, Earl Gray in hand "And I'm inclined to admit that she's right."

The Captain sighed uneasily "You see, Beverly, it was a miscalculation on my part. It never even crossed my mind that he would have issues even remotely similar in depth to mine after my own abduction. It was plain that he was affected in some way, but..."

"He WAS abducted before. He didn't need any help to get through that experience then. I don't think any of us thought that aside the regular sessions with Deanna that everybody needs to take, he would need any further help. All the more so, because during these sessions, his issues didn't turn out." Beverly shook her head regretfully "Of course at the previous occasion... he didn't have emotions..."

"We have known Commander Data without emotions for a lot longer than WITH emotions." the Captain mused gazing away.

Beverly smiled gently "Sometimes I still half-expect him to ask questions starting 'What does it feel like' even though he hasn't asked one for over two years."

The Captain had to agree "And sometimes it's still surprising, when he starts explaining how his own emotions fascinate him." he sighed "It's not right, but I have to admit that it never even crossed my mind to relieve him of duty. Because I never thought he would be capable of the issues he is actually facing now..."

She sighed "Me neither, Jean-Luc... This whole makes me wonder whether we are sloppy friends for him..."

The Captain smiled comfortingly "No, Beverly. We just made an error. It's up to us to correct it. Starting with revising the image we have in our heads whenever we say the name Commander Data."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: To be honest, I was a bit reluctant to include this chapter, because it doesn't directly moves the story forward (and I tend to be too longwinded anyways... sorry about that :( ) But I wanted to deal with this recurring theme of the series that Data was always mistreated one way or the other just because he was not an organic lifeform: see Measure of a Man as an extreme example, or almost any ep where Pulaski is talking to him, or when Yar explicitly asks the Captain whether Data could be trusted (in Datalore) whereas a few eps later this trust issue never comes up in connection to Worf in a similar situation (in Heart of Glory). But the list could go on for a while more... So I really think, it's important to deal with this topic.


	21. Chapter 21

After finishing with the rehearsal for that day, Emma asked Data for a word. The whole day was a mess. Everybody was distracted, and they could advance very little with the play.

Data turned back from the door and walked up to where she was standing on stage, while the others filed out and left them alone on the holodeck.

"What can I do for you?" he asked on a silent voice - his face as usual unreadable.

"You could start by talking to me." she replied looking into his eyes.

"I am talking to you right now."

"Come on, Deadpan. You can do better than to tell such a lousy lie. You've been avoiding me at the breaks and have been distant throughout the rehearsal. I couldn't even look into your eyes while dancing. Spill it. What's wrong?"

Data looked away uncomfortably then back at her now letting a slight resentment on: "I have been relieved of duty."

"I know." Emma said softly and nodded ruefully.

He nodded too then looked away and started walking around on the stage aimlessly.

Then suddenly an idea struck her, and she looked at him frowning "Are you angry at me?"

He turned back to her and looked at her from the other end of the stage "I have no compellingly good enough reason to be angry at you, Ms. Jones." he replied. His tone flat, almost cold.

She tried to walk up to him, but he started walking about again, and she stopped mid-stage. "Still. You ARE angry at me." she concluded.

"That ...is a correct observation. I feel a certain... resentment towards you." he turned to her "However, it is an unreasonable emotion to feel. Your making me admit my mental state to the Counsellor was a wise choice. A responsible one. And I should feel grateful to you. It is highly irrational to feel anger toward you or anybody else in relation to my relieving of duty."

"So let it BE irrational!" Emma told him forcefully "Data. Emotions are many times like that. Unreasonable, irrational, ambiguous, even wrong! But they're part of us. Accept them! Accept that you're angry, and try to find out why... so we can make up..." she added silently. She barely dared to admit even to herself how much she missed him.

He stared ahead for a long second then crossed to her: "I was relieved of duty. Because YOU made me go to Counsellor Troi! This will be included in my records. I am a career officer. I never cared about promotions because that kind of ambition is against my programming, but I hold on to what I have already achieved! If I lose my career at Starfleet, I have nothing much left in my life."

"You will not lose your career." Emma tried to sooth.

"How do you know?!" Data snapped at her suddenly "How can you possibly be so arrogantly sure?!" he shook his head helplessly "I am an android. Built to exceed human capacity, not to be overwhelmed by humanity's failings."

"You don't have a career because you're an android. You have it because you are a good officer!" Emma tried, but it was plain he would not listen.

"I am an adequate officer BECAUSE I am an android... I could have managed to overcome my fears and memories alone. Now I am left with only hope that when I do overcome them, I will still have a life to claim back."

Emma looked at him with guilt in her eyes then bowed her head: "I'm sorry..."

"You must not be." she heard his cold voice and raised her head sharply at this. He went on "My anger is unreasonable. You did the right thing. Even violated several Starfleet regulations by not reporting any of it to your superiors right away. And still. I am angry." he took a step backwards "I do not believe I can manage with all my - as Counsellor Troi calls them - 'issues' together with pursuing the possibility of a relationship with you, especially not now, when I am having so ambiguous feelings towards you. It is clear that I am having serious difficulties in assessing and differentiating amongst all of these contradictory emotions. It would not be fair neither on you nor on myself to pursue our mutual attraction under the circumstances."

Emma snorted and shook her head in disbelief "We're not even going out. Haven't even kissed. And you're dumping me... Swell."

"It is fortunate that we have not consummated the physical aspect of our supposed relationship. I understand that it would cause us a lot more pain to abandon the possibility of a relationship, if we have been acquainted in that fashion."

She swallowed hard and gave him a look full of scorn and the usual smugness: "Alright! Fine! So just run away, android exceeding human capacity! Run from your fears, run from your anger, run from all your emotions, and run from me!" she hissed "Exceed human capacity by being the most cowardly man humanity could never have produced organically!" she couldn't cover that her voice broke, and she ran off stage and out of the holodeck as quick as she could, so he wouldn't see her tears.

Data was left alone. Into his anger and resentment a profound sense of loss mingled, that he was not prepared for, leaving him more confused than ever before, since he had known her.


	22. Chapter 22

"Well, this little girl is progressing better and better." Beverly praised as she was moving the tricorder over Spot the next morning. The cat was taking a nap on Data's desk and couldn't care less about the fact that she was being examined. Data stroked Spot's fur gently as Beverly took the tricorder away. The doctor went on "I think she needs only a few more weeks of strict diet, and then we can ease up on it a little." she waited for Data to reply, but he remained silent - he barely said two words since she was in his quarters. "What do you think of that?" she tried to coax at least some sort of reaction out of him.

He looked up at her, his hand still resting on his cat "I am very glad to hear that she will be healthy soon, Doctor!" he replied silently.

After a short moment, Beverly stepped to him and touched his arm. He looked at her hand then at her almost shocked as she talked: "Now, we just have to make sure, her owner would get just as healthy." she told him on a soft voice.

"As you know very well, I cannot be sick, Doctor Crusher."

Beverly squeezed his arm gently: "Being healthy in the body is one thing, Data, you know that."

A bitter expression appeared on his face at this. He pulled away from her touch: "Despite how it must look from the reports of Counsellor Troi about my current mental state, I am not crazy, Doctor."

"Nobody said anything like that, Data. Everybody's worried about you. As we all have been ever since..."

"So you were right." Data cut her off on a flat tone, and nodded "I suppose being right, for a human means a lot. So I am gratified to give you that satisfaction."

"Please, don't do this!" she pleaded.

He looked around and at himself confused: "I am not doing anything." Slowly Spot started to stir and wake up.

Beverly tried again patiently: "I mean, don't just dismiss your friends' worry. Listen..." Data in the mean time picked Spot up and cuddled her close. The cat purred softly in his arms leaning her head to his jawline. He didn't seem to really care about what Beverly had to say.

"I am not dismissing anything." Data declared finally "I only would like to be alone." he explained, and despite his words, he dismissively turned and went to his sleeping area.

Beverly was shocked at his behaviour. Even without emotions, Data was nothing but polite all his life - and the way he was acting just now was outright rude. She couldn't help but be reminded how Westley was sulking around, when he was an adolescent going through an emotionally difficult time - like when he was breaking up with a girlfriend. She frowned suddenly angry.

"You stop right there, young man!" she blurted out, and as Data turned back to her, they both were looking at each other surprised at her choice of words. She then decided that she might as well just go down that road, if she had stepped on it. She walked up to him and looked straight into his eyes "If you walk out on me ever again the way you just did, I will have no choice but to fill in the gaps your mother has left in your politeness program, but I swear you won't enjoy that one bit!"

He looked at her gaping for a moment considering the seriousness of that threat - the Doctor was no programmer, but she seemed to mean every word. She was angry. He made her angry at him. He bowed his head almost pouting, holding Spot close: "I did not mean to be rude, Doctor Crusher." he told her on a mutter, though Beverly still had the impression that he was sulking.

"That's better! Now you'll sit down, and listen to what I have to tell you." she ordered strictly, and he obeyed reluctantly. As she sat next to him on the bed, Spot - having enough of enduring the presence of a guest - jumped off of his lap and disappeared under the bed with a slight hiss.

"Data. Having a horrible memory is not the end of the world. Neither is being relieved of duty. I have been in your shoes, so you can believe me. But being rude and dismissive with your friends is not the right answer to life kicking you in the butt. Believe me, you'll regret it, when you feel better." He sat there rigidly with a straight back at the edge of the bed, his hands clasped together in his lap. She knew she somehow needed to get through that thick android skull of his, so she gently touched his hand, disentangled his fingers and took one of his hands in hers. He looked at her and seemed to be scared.

"Don't be frightened." she told him smiling gently at his look.

And there he was again! In engineering. With the Borg Queen, when she was telling him the same thing. "Don't be frightened." he heard her voice. "I'm not frightened." he replied not being able to cover his emotions creeping into his features. He saw her face and felt the strange sensation her presence created in him: he was not frightened indeed. He was rather intrigued, curious and started to be attracted to her.

Just over three seconds later, he finally heard the doctor's voice again: "Data... Do you hear me?" he turned his head confused to meet her worried gaze. Is this never going to end?! his thoughts screamed.

"Yes, doctor." he said on a dry whisper turning away from her again. She didn't let his hand go. And he was grateful, because her grip felt like an anchor to reality.

After a long moment, she asked "What does Deanna say about all this?"

Data took a long breath to lower his suddenly peaking body temperature, then turned to Beverly with a calmer expression "She thinks I will make a full recovery. She also hopes that it will be faster than it would be for a human. My brain works in a different way than a human brain does. She bases her assumption of my expedited recovery on the fact that I have been able to live with the flashbacks with a relatively long time without much interference to my everyday life. Humans are not able to control their cognitive functions the way I am able to."

She squeezed his hand in hers "That's very good news, Data." she told him on a soft voice "It means we'll get you back soon." He bowed his head at this, and she went on "You know that everybody is missing you, don't you? I at least see you at the rehearsals, and the others saw you during Bridge duty - well not anymore - but it's really not the same as having you in our lives the way we used to do. At the poker nights or at Ten Forward or listening to your violin concerts... You'd be surprised how many times you creep into our conversations... it's strange what small things are missed, when you feel you lost someone." she added on a rueful voice.

He looked at her shocked. She was talking about him almost as if he was dead or if he had left the ship for good! This time, he was the one squeezing her hand: "But Doctor! You have not lost me. I am here."

"But you're pushing us away. You want us to leave you alone. You want us to... lose you."

"I am not, I am only..." he bowed his head and just trailed off.

"Just say it! Please." she pushed him a little further.

He looked back at her with desperation in his eyes: "I am... ashamed..." he whispered finally.

"Ashamed?! Why?" she asked shocked.

Data looked at her just as shocked: "You said you read the report. And you do not know?"

"Why don't you rather tell me?" she did have some idea, but it was more important to let him speak about his feelings.

He shook his head not really knowing what to say, if she was not able to see the point even after reading the report. "But you know what I did..." he shook his head again.

"Data..." she stroked the back of his hand with her thumb "You did nothing wrong. She seduced you. Nobody blames you for how you felt or acted when you were kept captive!"

He looked at her with a desperate expression "But I did kill her!" She looked at him surprised and confused at this as he went on "I keep asking myself: was there any other choice? ...My programming allows me to use deadly force only in direct self-defence. Like with the Borg drones. I had to protect Captain Picard and myself directly from them. But with her... it was different! I had to override all the safety routines, all precautions, everything to be able to... to kill her. If my father or Doctor Maddox was here, they would have deactivated me the moment they learned about what I did."

"Why would you think that?! For god's sake, you saved the ship, you did the right thing!" she was now really shocked at what he was saying. He really was thinking about himself as a murderer! When she had been trying to figure out what his problem could be, this never even crossed her mind!

He shook his head "No. Artificial intelligence should never be able to override the fundamental safety routines of its programming. That is the only way to avoid it to cross from a so called friendly AI to an unfriendly one. That is the thin line that differentiates me from Lore! However, I have figured out how to override these precautions years ago. When... when I was abducted by Kivas Fajo. It was a fortunate turn of the events that the Enterprise found me, before I fired that gun... And without emotions, ambitions, I had no reason to use that loophole I had created ever again... But I did use it to be able to kill the Queen... Now... I am not much different than Lore." he finished bowing his head and leaving Beverly gaping at him.

It took a whole minute for her to answer him. All that he had said made very logical sense. Still it was all wrong... "Data, listen to me." she looked into his eyes as he turned to her with a disillusioned gaze "Do you think I would be sitting here, holding your hand, if you were anything like Lore?"

He shook his head gazing away helplessly "No, but..." she went on cutting in "You're viewing all of this from a technological point of view. How an artificial intelligence should work in theory. And probably you're right in that sense. However, you're anything but theory, Data. You're a person who got into a very difficult situation. Think about it. If Jean-Luc Picard was in your place that day, what would he have done? Would his choices have been any different from yours? None of us is born a murderer. Taking the life of somebody is the most horrible thing that you could be forced to do but... There are certain circumstances, when a person has to override his or her way of thinking in order to do the right thing for the greater good. Would that change us forever? Yes. Do we have to let it destroy our lives. No. Not at all. You are not Lore. You overrode the safety routine of your programming not because you wanted power over others, or because you wanted to achieve some personal goal the way he did. You did it to save us. And for this, you should not be ashamed, you should be very proud."

Data seemed to process what had been said, still he sat there timidly: "It is very difficult to think about these events the way you do, Doctor. Even if I have to admit that you are making a valid point."

Beverly smiled encouragingly: "Well, you have to try to think about it this way, because all of us do! All your friends. Old and new." For a moment, it seemed to her that a small smile appeared on Data's features, but it was gone just as quickly as it came. She gave his hand one last squeeze then let go and stood up opposite him. "I have to go now. See you in the afternoon at the rehearsal."

He gave her a look of surprise mixed with a bit of fear then straightened his features and nodded: "Yes, Doctor." Then he stood up all of a sudden and stepped up to her with a pleading expression.

She smiled at him encouragingly "What is it, Data?"

"I am sorry that I was rude. And I appreciate your concern and advice. Thank you." he told her silently.

Beverly stroked his arm comfortingly "It's alright. Too many things are going on in your life. It's understandable that it's difficult to keep track and manage them." she hesitated a moment longer "I told this to Emma as well." she added cautiously.

He bowed his head. It WAS confusing. With or without Emma. He then gazed back up at her "Is she... still upset?" he asked on a thin voice.

Beverly took a moment to consider what to answer "Well... I think she understands you. But... you know her, right? At least a little. Don't expect her to be very friendly. She'll try to protect herself just as you do."

He shook his head reluctantly "I never meant to hurt her."

"I know. And believe me, she may try to act as if she doesn't, but she does too." she studied his tortured expression for a moment longer "Don't you want to make peace with her? Are you still so angry at her?"

He seemed utterly frustrated "No. Yes... I do not know. I cannot explain."

She smiled ruefully "Maybe she can understand without you explaining it to her. She told me she felt guilty for making you go to Troi and also that she shouted at you... She is a fiery person and talks a lot sooner than she thinks. If you want to know what I think, she cares about you. More than she would admit to you or herself. Whatever she did, Data, she meant you no harm."

He swallowed suddenly feeling a catch in his throat. Of course, she didn't. He knew it rationally - now he felt it as well. His anger slowly dissipated under Beverly's soft words and left him with that loss he had felt, when Emma shouted at him and ran out on him at the holodeck. He again felt utterly confused. Just like, when he'd last turned off his emotion-chip. Only now, his switch to turn it off was still not functioning. He felt cornered, he had no choice, had to face whatever he had to feel. Without a better option to escape, he tried to grab hold of his remaining rationality and stick to it as much as he could.

"Doctor Crusher." he gazed into her eyes with such a sad expression that Beverly felt her heart wanted to break under it "Whether I am still angry or not is irrelevant. Maybe it is better this way. Rationally, there was no reason to back up our fleeting wish to be a ...a couple." he only whispered the last word.

"The affairs of the heart can never be completely rational, Data." she put a gentle hand on his chest above his heart "Listen to your heart, when it calls to you! You may learn more from it than you might realize."

She took her hand away with a smile then stepped to the door. "See you later!" she waved to him once more and was gone. He looked after her for a few moments contemplating that he did have to make a very serious effort of changing his attitude towards his life and his past, if he would ever want to insert himself back into society.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The concept of a friendly artificial general intelligence is a most intriguing one, though it's more philosophy than technology in our time. Most scientists argue that if we want to create an AI with enhanced abilities compared to ours, then safety precautions need to be included, so it wouldn't turn on us (i.e. to avoid creating a Lore). There are critiques however, who think that if we manage to create a truly intelligent AI, then it would never turn on us ever. (See wikipedia for a fairly good description of these concepts) In this chapter, I attempted to resolve the contradiction of The Most Toys, where (lets face it) Data was about to kill Kivas Fajo. Still he never again used that kind of ability that he was able to kill in situations, where it was not about self-defense. I think he evolved enough to know, when it should be right to make such a horrible decision, still he would suffer greatly because of what his programming is telling him.


	23. Chapter 23

_After performing his cheerful song about his break-up on the stage of the Club, He sits down at the bar - good moods gone. The Waiter walks up to him with a note in hand:_

_"Excuse me, Sir. One of the customers asked me to give you this note."_

_He takes the note: "Thank you!" and starts reading it._

_"Hi! I'm here with a friend. I wasn't sure you wanted to see me, but if you do, I'm at the table by the window."_

_He sighs looking over at her sitting at the table by the window, and starts to push through the crowd._

_At the table, She is arguing with her 'friend':_

_"Look, I said let's go!" he growls at her._

_"I just wanna say 'Hello'. Is that such a big deal?"_

_"Hey!" He gets to them._

_"Hey!" She looks at him and they lock gazes._

_"Of all the crummy gin joints in all the towns in all the world, you had to walk into mine." he tells her on a distinct accent she immediately recognizes from an old-old favorite. She looks at him now knowing she should never have left him!_

_But her friend butts in: "Wha? You own this place?"_

_"No! It's a line from... ah, forget it!" He says waving "We haven't been introduced."_

_They stand up from the table, and the friend glares at Him: "I know who YOU are! I'm her fiancé!" he declares._

_"Ah, really?" He asks looking over at her._

_The fiancé growls at him: "Yeah, really."_

_"Well, then. Congratulations." He looks over at her again "To both of you."_

_"Ah, lets go, babe!" the fiancé says tired of the conversation._

_"Please! Could I have just a moment? Please!" she pleads._

_The fiancé gives in: "I bring the car. When it comes, your moment is over." he tells her possessively and leaves them alone._

_"Nice guy..." He remarks._

_"I'm sorry... sometimes he forgets his manners... So what's new? How is the world treating you?" She tries to smile at him._

_"Ah ya know... life's just a bowl of cherries." He replies on a silent voice._

_"It's nice to see you." She admits and can't stop herself from smiling at him._

_"I guess you were wrong, ha?" He remarks still on a sombre voice._

_"About what?"_

_"Looks like you DID forget me." He says with palpable disappointment._

_Her face all serious again: "No. I didn't."_

_And She starts singing:_

_"I remember you_   
_You're the one who made my dreams come true_   
_A few kisses ago_

_I remember you_   
_You're the one who said I love you too_   
_I do, didn't you know_

_I remember too_   
_A distant bell_   
_And stars that fell_   
_Like rain out of the blue_

_When my life is through_   
_And the angels ask me to recall_   
_The thrill of them all_   
_Then I will tell them I remember you_

_Was it in Tahiti, were we on the Nile_   
_Long long ago say an hour ago_   
_I recall that I saw your smile_

_I remember too_   
_A distant bell_   
_And stars that fell_   
_Like rain out of the blue_

_When my life is through_   
_And the angels ask me to recall_   
_The thrill of them all_   
_Then I will tell them I remember you"_

_"See you around." She says finally._

_"Yeah." He breaths dumbstruck._

_They say goodbye the same way they did, when they've last seen each other, and She leaves him there gazing after her long after She's gone._

_On the stage, a band is starting to play. Time is passing by. A waiter walks up to him:_

_"Can I get you a drink, Sir?"_

_"No, thanks. I'm going home." He replies and walking on the street, He starts to sing his own lament for their lost love:_

_"In the wee small hours of the morning,_   
_While the whole wide world is fast asleep,_   
_You lie awake and think about the girl_   
_And never, ever think of counting sheep._

_When your lonely heart has learned its lesson,_   
_You'd be hers if only she would call,_   
_In the wee small hours of the morning,_   
_That's the time you miss her most of all."_

* * *

In the next few days, the rehearsals went almost boringly well. Everything progressed as planned. They were finished with developing the first half of the play, and were advancing in the rest as well, putting themselves back on schedule.

"Beverly," Reg started as they were all standing at 'the table by the window' in the restaurant, "may I ask a question?" and as Beverly motioned him to go on, he did "There's this line about all the 'gin-joints in all the towns in all the world'."

"Yes, Reg." Bev nodded.

"The script never states where it's from, though it's implied that it's a well-known excerpt. Do you know what this is?" he finished looking at her with curious, wide eyes.

"It's from..." Beverly started.

"Casablanca." Data and Emma said in union with her. They looked at each other surprised for an instant, then Emma turned her head away.

"Yes." Bev smiled "It's an age-old movie." she looked over at Data to go on.

He clasped his fingers together in front of him, cocked his head and cited the relevant information: "Casablanca is a 1942 romantic drama made in the United States of America, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Set during World War II, it focuses on an American expatriate who must choose between his love for a woman and helping her Czech Resistance leader husband escape the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Nazis. Although the film was a solid if unspectacular success in its initial run, its reputation gradually grew. Its lead characters, memorable lines, and pervasive theme song called 'As time goes by' have all become iconic since in Earth's culture."

"Oh... it seems on the Martian colony where I was born, it never reached that kind of popularity. I've never heard about it." Reg admitted bowing his head a bit ashamed.

Emma suddenly started to sing:

" _You must remember this,_  
 _A kiss is just a kiss,_  
 _A sigh is just a sigh,_  
 _The fundamental things apply,_  
 _As time goes by_."

She went on speaking with a tentative smile on her face: "Really? No bells ringing?"

Reg stared at her open mouthed for a moment enchanted by the catchy melody "Wow..." he breathed, then noticing Sonya's glare, he cleared his throat: "No." he shook his head "Haven't heard of it..."

Emma gazed from him to Sonya then back. He bowed his head embarrassed, and Sonya took a step toward him as if to protect her territory. Emma'd been trying to be 'civilized' with them as much as she could for the last few days, and Reg seemed to be open for straightening the relationship, but it was plain that for Sonya, it was out of the question.

Emma suddenly felt fed up! She turned and went to the replicator to distance herself from all of them. At least for a few minutes. She yawned as she waited for her coffee mug to appear. Fatigue seemed to become a constant companion. She had virtually no time to rest.

"Are you alright, Ms. Jones?" she suddenly heard Data's voice from behind her, and she jumped scared.

"Shit..." she breathed glaring up at him. She took her mug in her hand "Perfectly fine, Commander. Next time, if you want to sneak up on somebody like that, wait until they take their mugs in hand. The impact will be a lot more extensive. Excuse me..." she muttered frowning and walked back to the others. She was not sure which of the two options she disliked less: talking to the noobs or talking to Data.

It was enough that she had to fight her attraction every time they practised dancing or singing together. She didn't want to find the energy to fight herself even in the breaks, but he seemed to be tag tailing her wherever she went! He never spoke much, only kept following her. And so a strange kind of game was formed between the two of them - which she would've found funny, if it didn't drive her utterly crazy: the more she did everything to avoid him, the more he kept on his silent tailing. The worst was that she knew she had no reason to be unfriendly to him, but she just couldn't make herself ignore all that had happened between them.

Data looked after her for a long moment as she walked up to Beverly. In the last days, he had a lot of time to think. And he did think a lot about Emma too. Whether it was a good decision to shun the possibility of a relationship with her. All his logical thought-processing units assented to the decision - if only his emotion-chip conceded to it as well...

Reg and Sonya sat down to eat a snack a bit farther away in the room, while Beverly and Emma seemed to chit-chat on the stage. He walked back up to the two women.

"How do you know so much about Casablanca, Data?" Beverly asked him kindly as he stepped up to them "It's an ancient movie, even if it's iconic."

He looked at her with a neutral expression "I looked it up when I read the line Lieutenant Barclay asked you about a few weeks ago, when you gave me the script. I wanted to better understand the scene. It was plain that it was a joke, as the fiancé's taking the words literally was clearly a misinterpretation of what He was saying. I wanted to understand the joke."

"Have you watched the film?"

"Yes, Doctor. At the same time when I looked up the excerpt, I took the time and watched it in a lunch break." Emma stared at him suspiciously at this, but wouldn't have asked for the world how he could watch a film over two hours long in a single lunch break. He looked at her noticing her watching him, and before she could turn away, he quickly asked "And you, Ms. Jones. How do you know about Casablanca?"

She shrugged and looked back at Beverly "I spent the last decade in a colony trapped in a cult of the 21st century. We actually had movie theatres. Some of them played these old 20th century black and white films. Casablanca was an ever-green." she explained never looking at him.

"Oh, I have an idea!" Beverly exclaimed suddenly excited "Guys!" she turned to Sonya and Reg to get their attention as well "Let's watch Casablanca together! Reg! You can program a classic 20th century movie theatre, right? It would be a great team-building for us! And it would give us the feel of the settings and time of Dreamland!"

Everybody seemed extremely reluctant. Reg felt trapped between Beverly's request and doing as Sonya expected from him. And Sonya seemed unwavering in her conviction that she would NEVER make peace with Emma. Taking up leisure activities involving her was no exception.

"It is a great idea indeed, Doctor." Data said with a small smile to try to encourage the others to join. It was so depressing that their little team was so divided, maybe Doctor Crusher's idea might help with that.

Emma knew that she was the only obstacle for half of the team to attend, so she backed off: "Yeah, Bev... You know that I have a lot to study nowadays. I've seen it already so... I'd rather take a rain-check." she shrugged apologetically. She even tried to smile, and felt it drew all of her last energies from her.

At this, Sonya's face lit up, and before Beverly could speak, she smiled whole-heartedly "Well, Beverly, I'm sure Reg can make that movie theatre." she said, and they walked up to where they were standing "Right, Reg?"

"O-o-of course!" he stammered on a thin voice blinking from Sonya to Beverly.

"Emma, you sure, you cannot make it?" Beverly tried once again smiling kindly as she always did.

Emma opened her mouth to decline yet again, but suddenly, she heard Data's voice from next to her: "Please, Ms. Jones." he said on his usual silent tone. She looked up at him, and as their gazes locked, she knew she just couldn't say no. Not to him. She felt that his intense golden gaze peered right into her soul. She tried to shake her head, but then he went on "It is but a singular night. We could make an effort at building a team." his lips curled up into a small smile, and she once again caught herself helplessly staring at them as desire washed over at her.

She turned her blushing face away and shrugged slightly "I guess I could try..." she said on a low voice. She didn't even notice Sonya's sulking gaze as the younger woman crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Great!" Beverly looked around satisfied - ignoring Sonya as well.

While Data and Emma went on practising their scene together with Beverly helping them on, Reg programmed the holodeck for their movie night with Sonya keeping him company, still sulking about the turn of events. After the rehearsal, everybody had a short break to take a shower and to have something for dinner, and they agreed to meet at 2100 at the same holodeck.


	24. Chapter 24

Emma arrived early, hoping she could sit somewhere in a corner. She had no energy to deal with anyone that night. She entered the holodeck and found herself in the foyer of a movie theatre. The entrance of the auditorium was open and only curtained. An usher was standing next to it in a red uniform. He smiled kindly at her:

"Good evening, Ma'am!"

"Good evening! I came for the Casablanca premiere." she smiled back feeling her spirits lifting. The settings were familiar, and she just loved movies! She regularly went to see films with her husband - in the good old days... And she started to feel nostalgic.

"This way please!" he said and pulled the curtain away.

"Thank you!" she entered and looked around in the dark auditorium. It took a little time for her eyes to adjust, but when they did, she was turning her head around curiously taking in all the details. Reg definitely did very well in programming this one! The auditorium was small with only nine or ten rows of seats and one tight aisle in the middle. The screen was showing commercials fit for the era - some of them even promoted the support of the war effort!

And in the middle of the auditorium, there sat Data. He leaned forward to prop his arms up on the back of the seat just in front of his own and lay his chin atop his arms. His upturned face was glowing with the silver light coming from the screen, his golden gaze as always sparkled with curiosity, and Emma was once again amazed at his looks.

He turned his face toward her after a moment: "Are you coming in, Ms. Jones?" he asked with a slight smile Emma could barely make out in the dim light.

She was about to step up to where he was sitting, but then she suddenly became aware of reality. Of how they said goodbye the last time they were alone at the holodeck, and the pain returned.

"I suppose, it'd be more comfortable to sit farther apart." she declared and started to go upward in the raked auditorium to get as far from him as possible.

He stood up "I have calculated that the best angle to watch the screen is from this line, exactly in the middle." he told her turning towards her as she withdrew ever further.

"I'll be fine up here." she waved him away.

"Ms. Jones, we are here as part of a team. Sitting so far away from everybody else will not help you in joining the team."

She sighed now impatiently "How can you be so single-minded?" she muttered then shrugged and walked down the aisle to him "Fine." she gazed up at him "Where do you want me to sit, Sir?" she asked not being able to stop her voice to have a taunting edge to it.

He did not reply, just moved one seat to the right and motioned for her to sit, where he previously had. She gave him a small nod of acknowledgement and lowered herself into the seat. He sat next to her, and they turned to the screen. For a long minute, they sat there watching the commercials on screen. Emma tried everything to ignore his presence so close to her, but if she moved even a little bit to the right, their shoulders touched. She felt somewhat embarrassed by his nearness - or more precisely the thoughts that were triggered by his nearness. She needed to adjust her position in the seat to at least try to move a little bit away from him. She put her hands on the armrest of her seat for support just to feel her fingers encounter with the skin of his hand. She turned her head surprised and met his equally surprised gaze.

She cleared her throat and pulled her hand away as if he'd burned her: "Sorry." she whispered.

"No, I am sorry! Please, make yourself comfortable." he told her on a silent voice dropping his hands in his lap.

"No, I'm fine! Don't worry!" she squirmed in her seat again until she thought she found a relatively comfortable position. She relaxed against the soft cushions of the chair - and felt her shoulder brush his again. It seemed unless she sat in a very awkward position slightly leaning to the left, their bodies were meant to touch.

And here she was to watch the most romantic film, with some part of her body brushing against the man she had been attracted to from almost the moment they met. And the film was over two hours long... and it hasn't even started yet. She sighed and resigned herself to the fact that this night would be the most tantalizing one she had experienced since she was aboard the ship. Maybe not counting the one when they almost kissed. The memory of how her lips travelled along the line of his nose to his lips, how he tried to capture her mouth with his own just flooded her mind. Oh, just stop it! she shouted to herself.

"Are you alright?" she heard his voice and suddenly realized that she had been looking at him for the last few seconds.

She was grateful for the darkness around them, because she felt that her cheeks were just burning "Yeah... I just..." she muttered - you just what? you stupid chick... What's the end of that sentence?! She turned back to the screen hoping he would let it go.

But Data being Data did not let it go. "You just what?" he asked sincerely curious.

Emma looked back at him, thinking about what the hell she could make up to say to him, and finally, her mind produced the one thought she was contemplating all day: "I was just wondering... are you still angry at me?"

Both of them were equally surprised by what she'd uttered. Before Data could answer, however, the curtains opened up, and the others filed in talking, with boxes of popcorn in hand.

"Hi, guys!" Beverly greeted them as she sidled towards them in the row "Here!" she handed a box to Data and one to Emma.

He reluctantly took it but was about to give it back "Doctor Crusher, I..."

"It was traditional to eat popcorn in movie theatres, Data. Reg researched it and even found a way to replicate it!" she explained as they sat down. Reg was nodding smiling absently then turned back to Sonya.

Data still looked a little unsure at the strange looking food in a paper box, and Emma couldn't help but smiled "It's part of the experience, Deadpan. Don't deny it from yourself." she told him on a soft voice.

He looked into her eyes and was stunned to see a certain tenderness on her features she showed very rarely - she did the night she told him to go to Counsellor Troi for help. That night they almost kissed, almost...

"What is it?" she asked, and he realized that he was still gazing into her eyes. She smiled again "Try it!" she told him, and popped a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

He finally complied, started to chew on a piece and looked delightfully surprised at the taste, then after swallowing it, he suddenly looked somewhat uncomfortable, grimacing. Emma chuckled softly: "Now, THAT is also part of the experience! It sticks to your teeth, as if it was glue. Believe me, it's better than taffy!... Don't worry! Just eat on, all's gonna come off eventually - if not, it will, when you brush your teeth."

He grunted a bit disillusioned but obeyed and ate on. He had to admit that he liked the taste of this strange food and also the feeling of it cracking under his teeth. They settled back in their seats and ate on in silence, while the others chit-chatted until the film started.

Only half an hour passed, when exhaustion caught up on Emma so much so that she fell asleep. After a few minutes of unconscious nodding her head from side to side, she finally settled comfortably against Data's shoulder. At the touch, he turned to her and was surprised to find her deeply asleep against him. He studied her features for a few moments considering to wake her up, so she wouldn't miss the film. But then decided against it. She seemed tired and as she had already seen it, it seemed pointless to wake her. Besides, it gave him a warm, tender buzz to feel her cuddle up to him. Even in her unconscious state, sleeping. He turned back to the film, but starting a processing thread separate from the one which was paying attention to the film, he mused on their situation.

After about an hour, Emma started to stir and woke up. She was shocked to find her face crumpled into the android's uniform, and she raised her head so sharply at the realization that a wave of dizziness washed over her. She cautiously glanced up to Data, but he seemed not to pay attention to her stirring. His eyes were fixed on the screen, and she settled back into her seat once again feeling her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

The film went on and soon they got to the last scene, where the protagonists had to part. The line "We'll always have Paris" reminded Beverly of the young woman that came aboard the ship, when these creepy time-shifts happened everywhere aboard over a decade ago. You could meet yourself in the turbolift, and she did, just as Data, Will and Jean-Luc! Yes, that woman... That woman was the wife of the scientist causing the phenomenon, and she remembered well how Jean-Luc looked at her. It was obvious they had a past, a past she knew led back to their time together in Paris. She felt a pang of jealousy, and immediately, she shook her head slightly to clear her mind: there was no point in thinking about these things. They both had several love interests since, and their friendship endured. It was probably the dark mood of the film that got the better of her.

The film ended, and soft lights came up. Suddenly, they heard a strange noise from their right, and Emma, Data and Beverly looked sideways to see Reg wiping his tears with a tissue.

"I-I'm sorry..." he breathed still trying to get a grip "But it's just so sad..."

They all smiled sadly and a little embarrassed then started to get up. As they walked out into the foyer, Bev rubbed her thighs a bit uncomfortable: "My legs went to sleep in these seats."

"Tell me about it..." Emma had to agree - her whole body was stiff and numb at the same time, and she rubbed her neck with a hand. Falling asleep in that seat was a bad idea on several different levels at once.

They started to file out of the holodeck, but Data lingered behind. The others stopped at the corridor, in the doorway and looked back at him:

"Are you coming, Data?" Beverly asked finally.

"No, thank you." he shook his head "I think I stay for a little while longer to practise some of my songs. I do not have anything to do tomorrow anyway..." he tried to joke - not that he would be missing any sleep even if he had to do anything. Nobody laughed.

They said good night and left him alone. As the door closed, they just could hear him asking the computer for the settings of Dreamland.


	25. Chapter 25

Emma didn't reach her quarters. Even as the doors closed on Data at the holodeck she knew she would not reach them... She couldn't resist. She had to get back, see if he was alright - and if he was, maybe to talk to him. Maybe to somehow straighten this whole mess she felt they got themselves in. Before the lift arrived on her deck, she called to the turbolift to take her back to the holodecks.

Data was walking slowly on the street setting chanting softly one of his character's lament of love:

" _...When your lonely heart has learned its lesson,_  
 _You'd be hers if only she would call..._ "

She watched him for a moment longer, feeling her heart lurch hearing his heart-breaking melody, then sighing, she stepped up on the stage. He turned to her, looked into her eyes, and sang the last lines to her:

" _In the wee small hours of the morning,_  
 _That's the time you miss her most of all._ "

He then sat down on the edge of the sidewalk slouching, his hands dropped in his lap. He was gazing down numbly, and Emma felt her heart break as she saw tears in his eyes. She walked up to him, and slowly sat down close to him with one leg twisted under herself, so she could turn to him fully. Her heart seemed to miss a beat as she noticed in the soft grey light that his tears were yellow. Eyes of gold, skin of gold, tears of gold - is there any doubt that his heart is of gold too? She fought the urge to just take him into her arms and hold him as close as she could.

She smiled again that tender smile: "I can't believe that silly Broccoli managed to infect even my Deadpan with his crying." she told him on a low voice.

He blinked for a moment then turned to her puzzled "I have never heard about crying to be infectious, Ms. Jones." he muttered.

She snorted still smiling and bowed her head. After a moment, she looked at him ruefully: "But it is. See?" she asked wiping a tear from her eyes. His lips parted in wonder, and she smiled "Mirror-neurons... Tell me, are you really crying because of your song? Or it's rather because of Casablanca?"

He bowed his head and wiped his face with the sleeve of his uniform: "No." he moaned softly. Then he looked up sharply as if to quickly clarify things: "Although the themes of the film are very close to the emotions that make me cry."

"I see." she nodded after a moment to encourage him to go on.

He shook his head lost "In Casablanca, Rick had to let Ilsa go because that was the most sensible thing to do. The most reasonable thing. Maybe even the most ethical. And before having emotions, I would not have had any arguments against the conclusion of the film at all! However... now, even if I still know intellectually that this is the right thing to do, I still feel it to be wrong! How can it feel wrong, when it is so plainly right?! And..." he looked into her eyes deeply, his expression turning desperate "...this was exactly how it felt to let you go! It IS the right choice to make! The right thing to do! And yet it all feels wrong!" he bowed his head again and turned away from her as his tears came again, but Emma didn't let him.

Out of instinct and the need to give comfort, she put her arms around him: "No, no, no... don't turn away!" she whispered and turned him back to her gently. She took his face into her palms and held him firmly. He looked at her through his long, wet lashes as they locked gazes, his cheeks had golden tracks of tears, and he reluctantly raised his hands and took her by the wrists. She cuddled closer until their foreheads touched, and they just held onto each other like that for a long minute.

This time, there was no rush of desire, no hot irresistible passion. Only the need to be near another living being and the need of comfort. Emma slowly leaned closer to his face. He did not move just breathed steadily through his slightly open mouth. She then lowered her lips to his cheek and tenderly kissed the trail of his tears. She advanced inch by inch downward, sometimes catching an occasional tear with her lips. Instead of tasting salty, they were almost sweet. Her lips lingered above his for a long moment, taking in his breath and giving him a taste of hers, then she tilted her head to the other side, noses brushing and kissed his tears away there too.

When she was finished, she snuggled her cheek to his and drew in a shaky breath to calm her racing heart. Data's arms came around her waist as hers circled his neck. And she felt him holding her close and burying his face into the nape of her neck.

Then she started whispering "You have to know that you're not alone in this. I feel the same you do. I have to fight myself every day, at every rehearsal, every moment you hold me close and we dance. I have to fight myself even now. If you knew of all the things that cross my mind at only the slightest of touch..." she chuckled softly "...you would be shocked, I think."

He couldn't help but smiled snuggling closer to her with eyes shut. He felt as if a huge weight was lifted off his chest! "I do not believe you could shock me... Perhaps the other way around!"

She smiled into his shoulder and told him on a muffled voice: "I have seen some stuff in my life, believe me!... But..."

She then reluctantly pulled away and sliding her hands down his arms, she took his hands in hers. She looked into his eyes "It's more than just mutual attraction. Not that I would belittle the impact of that in my life... there are times it makes hard to think at all, let alone study or even... doing my job." she had to chuckle at his surprised expression, but then went on "But... there's more." but she was not sure how to go on...

Data looked at her with the most innocent expression she had ever seen on anybody's face and asked: "Are we in love, Emma?"

A soft laugh escaped her lips: "Oh, god, Deadpan. If you keep at being the sweetheart you are, I'm afraid I won't stand a chance at avoiding falling for you..." then shook her head "but no, we're not in love, Data. Maybe the closest term to phrase this is having a crush."

"A crush? I have read about this concept!" Data declared excited "It is an infatuation, also called puppy love, a fascination or beguilement..." he seemed to consider this for a moment "I believe it IS the adequate term describing our situation the most precisely, however... I do not thoroughly see the difference between a crush and being in love."

Emma shook her head: "If you've never felt either, it's perfectly normal that you don't know the difference. It's not something that you can intellectually grasp. At least, I could not, when I was a teenager. You have to feel it." she smiled encouragingly "When you feel it, you will know it."

Data bowed his head self-consciously: "Emma, I am not a teenager. Not chronologically, not in any other sense of the word. With my intellect and with the emotion-chip, I should understand these things better."

She sighed with an understanding smile: "No, you're not a teenager. You were born an adult, your body is clearly that of an adult man - khm focus Emma! - your mind is brilliant, your emotions are deep and sincere, and on top of all that, you have the emotional awareness of a two-year-old."

Data gaped at her wide-eyed, shocked: "You really think so?" he asked on a thin voice.

"Well, make that a ten-year-old. Still. You're struggling to integrate your feelings with your intellect, you're trying to grasp why you feel certain things, while you're not even sure what exactly it is that you're feeling at all. Those are things kids struggle with - and some adult people with ... a form of autism."

He frowned: "But autism is cured in infants, Emma."

She winced: "Not on a world stuck in the 21st century, no... Look." she squeezed his hands "You'll learn all of this. Give yourself time. After all, you have had emotions for only two years, still you've already come a long way. A lot longer any human would in such a short time! You just need some more time." she smiled consiprationally "You of all people have all the time in the universe, right?"

"But I do NOT have all the time!" he declared, and she again sensed a tinge of desperation in his voice.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because if I take so much time - who knows, what if I would need years? - what would happen to us? What would happen to our crush? You would find yourself another man! Someone who knows what is going on in his head. Someone who is as practised in love-affairs as He is in Dreamland. Someone who can give you what you need and is not a confused child..." he again bowed his head almost as if sulking.

Emma suddenly gave him her usual smirk: "You know what, Deadpan? You ARE a confused child." she told him, and he looked at her with a sad, knowing expression as she went on "Not only confused but selfish as well! Are you not thinking about what I would want? What I would choose? You are writing my life for me for the next few years!" she then seeing his remorseful face, gave up on pulling his leg "Okay, forget what I've just said, I was just teasing you. Look. Who knows what the future brings? We barely know each other. We might end up having a few mind-blowing nights, and then after our bodies get satisfied, we'll realize that hmm... she is a smug, sarcastic bitch, he is an eternal baby - and we break up. Data, I don't want to know the future. I don't want to swear to you that I'd wait for you, and I don't want you to feel obliged to the things you are saying now in a year's time. The hard part is that it's always changing. Once you're angry at me, then you're crying for losing me..."

"I am not angry at you anymore..." he muttered regretfully.

"You see?" she smiled again.

"I was wrong in being angry with you, and I am sor..."

"No!" she put a finger on his lips "Stop being so hard on yourself. Stop pushing yourself as if you had a deadline to meet. Let it go..." she said on a soft voice massaging his hand from the tight fist it had been in "And you will find what you're looking for. It'll just come to you!" she laced her fingers through his then leaning close to his face, she gave a small kiss to the tip of his nose. "Now, come!" she told him letting his hand go, and hopped to her feet.

"Where?" he looked up at her confused.

"You're here to practise, aren't you? Let's dance! Is there a better way to get to know each other?"

He stood up and cocked his head "Emma, it is already past midnight. I have to warn you. You will be very tired tomorrow."

Emma laughed and stepped into his arms taking up the classic dancing position "Maybe I was missing something, but was there ever a time in the last weeks, when I was not tired, Deadpan? Besides, I had a good hour of sleep in the cinema, on a very comfortable albeit a bit bony pillow." she pushed her fingers into his shoulder smiling, then as Data returned the smile, she called out: "Computer, waltz please!" the music began, and they started dancing. After a minute or so, she spoke up again "And about needing time..." her voice was a little shaking "You are not alone in that either."

"Because you are still married?"

She gave him a tentative nod "Because of the impact of that marriage. You're not the only one in this universe who's afraid of losing someone. I was so afraid of losing my husband that I let him treat me in a horrible way." she couldn't bring herself to go into any details. When she looked into his eyes, she saw that his expression was painful. Her heart missed a beat as the realization dawned on her: it hurt him to see her in pain. "So..." she felt a little breathless suddenly, and knew it wasn't because of their waltz "It creeps me out that I too feel scared of losing you. It's as if I am dragging myself into this dangerous territory again... I need time to sort out my feelings too. See? It's complicated..."

This time, Data was the one who smiled encouragingly: "I will give you all the time you need!" he promised and mimicking her previous actions, he leaned close to her face, and before she could get the impression that he wanted to kiss her on the lips, he quickly gave her a kiss on the nose. He then looked into her eyes with his sincere golden gaze "I am glad we reconciled. Even when I was angry at you, I hated that feeling." he confessed.

Emma nodded: "I hated that too, Deadpan." she told him smiling.

They snuggled more comfortably into their embrace and danced on. Emma felt she grew wings, and if she was asked, she could have flown! She tried to hate how much her world could turn by making peace with a man. She felt the control was completely taken away from her, but she felt so good, she just couldn't care!

"Emma?" she heard his voice and looked into his eyes smiling.

"Hmmm?"

"What are we going to do?"

"I was thinking about waltzing for a little while, then we could go to sleep." she told him knowing he didn't mean that.

Data didn't get the teasing from her voice, he grew even more serious "I did not mean tonight. I meant having a crush! I understand that people who feel that way tend to start a relationship. However, we both are reluctant about going down that road. How are we going to resolve that contradiction?"

"It's not necessary to go down that road. Take Broccoli and Sugar for an instance. OR Bev and your Captain - although they have something that's a lot more serious than a simple crush going on."

Data blinked at her wide-eyed. Emma gave him two huge chunks of completely new information in just two short sentences, and he was not sure how to comprehend all of this! Emma laughed at his expression "Don't tell me you didn't notice. You know them a lot longer than I do!"

Data seemed to think a little. He was inexperienced with emotions, but he was not unobservant. He tried to run a quick analysis on his memories about both couples, trying to find clues about what she had stated about them. After a minute, he finished and looked at her thoughtfully "I might agree on Lieutenant Barclay and Gomez. They seem to be close friends, and Lieutenant Gomez seemed to be jealous whenever you danced with Lieutenant Barclay. However, I cannot find any relevant data on the Captain's and Doctor Crusher's behaviour in this regard."

"You're right, you might not know about THEM. I know only because I know Beverly, and she was talking about these things in her messages. So please don't tell this to anybody, okay?" she winced regretting that her mouth was always moving before her brain was...

He nodded seriously "Okay... So?" he looked at her expectantly.

"So what?" she asked losing the thread.

"So what is the conclusion that we can draw from these instances?"

"Oh... Well. I suppose the conclusion is that we should take our time. Let's just try to be friends, and let's try to resist this crush until we know more about each other. And until our lives is a little less hectic. What do you think about that, Deadpan?"

He cocked his head thoughtfully "Are you going to tell me if your opinion changes? If you have 'taken your time'."

"Yes, I will. I promise." she nodded smiling "Will you promise me the same thing?"

"Of course!"

"Good!" she smiled broadly, then suddenly, she stopped dancing and pulled him close into a tight embrace, her arms around his neck "Just don't ask me not to do this!" she whispered into his ear and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek.

"Do friends really do that?" he asked smiling incredulously at her - knowing full well that Geordi never displayed such an act of affection toward him, and no friend was ever closer to him than Geordi!

"Yes, absolutely!" she answered looking at him convincingly "Very often."

He smiled shyly "I believe 'friends resisting a crush' might be a more appropriate definition to those who do that often." he told her and pulling her close, happily returned her act of affection.

She cuddled up to him "Good thing I can't fool you, Deadpan! You keep me on my toes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I've once read in a comment (at Keith DeCandido's rewatch of the series) that the concept that emotions are difficult to program was stupid, because basic emotions (like fear or bonding) are displayed even in animals (e.g. even in mice). Emotions are responses to stimuli, so probably those would be the easiest thing to program. The real difficult part is to integrate emotion to intellect. And I tend to agree on that. As this is a problem that people with autism are fighting, I thought I'd mention that as well (especially that Brent got a lot of feedback from high-functioning autistic people that Data was the only character they ever could identify with because of his difficulties in understanding emotions).


	26. Chapter 26

_He gets home and calls the hotel operator._

_"Hotel operator, how can I help you?"_

_"Yeah, can I get a 9:30 AM wake up call, please?"_

_"That's 9:30 AM, room 222."_

_They say good night, and as He hangs up, the phone rings again:_

_"Hello?"_

_"Hi..." He hears her voice and almost drops the receiver in surprise as She asks him "I didn't wake you, did I?"_

_"No, I was just..."_

_"Look, I know I shouldn't be calling but... should I hang up?"_

_"No, no, I'm glad you called!"_

_"You are?"_

_"Yeah..."_

_"Cause seeing you again was just... I'm a little confused." She admits, and He immediately tries to reassure her:_

_"Let me help you focus things a bit..."_

_And He starts singing:_

_"Hear my voice where you are_   
_Take a train, steal a car_   
_Hop a freight, grab a star, come back to me_   
_Catch a plane, catch a breeze_   
_On your hands, on your knees_   
_Swim or fly, only please, come back to me_   
_. . ._   
_Have you gone to the moon or the corner saloon_   
_And to wreck and to ruin_   
_Mademoiselle, where in Hell can you be?_   
_In a crate, in a trunk, on a horse, on a junk,_   
_In a road or a van, wrapped in mink or saran,_

_Anyway that you can, came back to me,_   
_Come back to me, come back to me, come back,_   
_Come back to me, me!"_

_Just as He finishes, there's a knock on the door._

_"Hold the phone, I'll be right back!"_

_He quickly opens the door, and there She stands out of breath but beaming with joy!_

_"Can I come in?" She asks breathlessly as She steps in._

_"How did you..." He is just dumbfounded._

_"I left right after the first 'Come back to me'." She replies gasping both from running and from being helplessly in love._

_He then kisses her as passionately as He can._

_"This is a dream!... I can't believe you're here!" He moans._

_"I shouldn't be! ...Too dangerous! You don't know what he's capable of, he's crazy!"_

_"Don't be afraid. Whatever happens, we face it together!"_

_And the mood changes from euphoria to the determination of star-crossed lovers as He starts to sing:_

_"There may be trouble ahead_   
_But while there's moonlight_   
_And music and love and romance_   
_Let's face the music and dance"_

_She goes on singing the same tune:_

_"Before the fiddlers have fled_   
_Before they ask us to pay the bill_   
_And while we still have the chance_   
_Let's face the music and dance"_

_As they start dancing, they go on together:_

_"Soon, we'll be without the moon_   
_Humming a different tune and then_   
_There may be tear drops to shed_   
_So while there's moonlight_   
_And music and love and romance_   
_Let's face the music and dance_   
_Let's face the music and dance!"_

* * *

Data was walking down the corridor just leaving Counsellor Troi's office and almost bumped into somebody coming up opposite him, he was so preoccupied. He was to have a session every day, and at every occasion, it was difficult and dark and painful to remember. Every time he left the office, he had to forcefully distance himself from all that he had recited to be able to do anything but crawling up in a corner scared, trapped in his own head. He was always glad, if the rehearsal was soon after the therapy session because then he would be able to pay attention to something else apart from his personal nightmares. Although it was difficult to switch into the mood to play around, but Emma often times helped in that.

It was still early, but he rather went to the holodeck than home to wait for the others to arrive. When he got to the holodeck, he was surprised to find that it was already in use and that one of the Dreamland sets were loaded.

As he stepped inside, the music that played immediately caught his attention. It was not the music of Dreamland, but it WAS a captivating melody. The set was also altered. On one side of the room, a small band played the violin and the piano, while on the other side, the bar remained the same as it was. Most of the tables were arranged in a way to leave a wide space in the middle of the room, and in the middle of the room there danced Emma in the arms of an elderly man - a dance partner conjured up by the magic of the 24th century. As they turned, the man invited him in:

"Don't just stand there, come closer, sonny boy. I want to teach you something."

The man looked back at Emma who smiled at him a sweet almost shy smile. Data stepped closer a bit reluctantly and stopped at the side of the dance floor unsure of what this was all about.

"Do you know tango, sonny boy?" the man asked and suddenly dipped Emma holding her firmly by the waist. They came back up after a moment, and the man manoeuvred them again so they could look at Data.

The younger man nodded: "I do. I learned it as part of the dancing course Doctor Crusher gave me." his voice was neutral - he was confused, but for some reason didn't feel inclined to showing it.

"Ah, then you DON'T know tango at all, sonny boy!" he answered and swirled Emma around letting her take a few steps from him just to be pulled back to him by the hand as the music reached a dramatic height. He turned her around so her back was to his chest and looked at Data again "It's not simply a dance that you can learn in a lesson. Tango is a shared moment!" he turned her around again and stepped between her feet looking deeply in her eyes "The leader offers an invitation." he pulled her tightly against him "The follower decides how to accept it." in response she side-stepped his feet but turned her chest back to him "It's not just the steps! It's a moment of intimacy and understanding." he swirled her around again, pulled her close and put his palm against her thigh "You have to hold her, like the skin on her thigh is your reason for living." he again let her go, swirling her around and held her only by the hand "Let her go, like your heart's being ripped from your chest." he pulled her back again and buried his face in her long hair "Oh, women! Have you ever buried your nose in a mountain of curls... just wanted to go to sleep forever?" he mused absently. Data watched them gaping - knowing full well what it felt like to dance with her, hold her so close, and her hair...

Emma stopped dancing and slowly let the man go smiling in gratitude: "I think he has seen enough Lieutenant Colonel! Thank you for your help!" she looked up "Computer, discontinue Lieutenant Colonel Slade." she called, and the image of the man disappeared.

She walked up to the still dumbfounded Data and pulled him to the middle of the dance floor by the hand.

"Emma, wha..."

Pushing herself up to him, she put a finger on his lips "Don't say anything!" then brushing his chin and cheek rested her hand on his shoulder "and don't think, and don't move unless you feel it!" she whispered.

He still looked at her confused almost scared - he knew the steps of tango, true, but what they just performed... "I-I do not think I know enough of tango to dance it with you the way the gentleman did. Without mistakes!"

She smiled lovingly at him "No mistakes in the tango, Data. It's not like life. It's simple. That's what makes tango so great. You make a mistake, you get all tangled up, you just tango on." she quoted the same movie the elderly man was from and smiled at him with a belief he rarely felt he got from anybody.

He gave her a tentative lopsided smile of wonder.

"Computer, restart  _Por una Cabeza_!" she asked for the music to which she'd been dancing with the holograph. As the catchy melody started anew, she took his hand gently in hers, pushing herself up to him and guiding his hand, put his arm around her. She then just as slowly reached up to his face and without touching his cheek slid her hand to his shoulder. Ever increasing the touch, she slid her hand ever lower, and stopped just under his blade bone. As their gazes locked again, he pulled her firmly against him.

And they started to take the first step ever so slowly, his leg between her thighs, and she stepped out from under his reach after a moment of touch. He then swirling her around pulled her again to himself. She answered with leaning only her side to his body, but sliding her thigh up his, knee bent. Her hand was on his neck, a tight clasp tangling into his hair slightly, his hand held her tiny waist. And they leaned to the side, her body resting against his. He then pushing her back again swirled themselves around just to arrive at their initial starting position. She clasped her hands into his firmly, and they took another wide step. This time, it was in perfect union and harmony just to be sensually broken by her leaning backward, and he followed her movement with a gentle palm on the skin of her neck. He then brought her face up to his once again sliding his hand sensually across her chest, stopping just above her heart, and swirled themselves around once more.

The intimacy of the dance, Emma's feminine scent, her nearness, the brush of her hair against his cheek, her breathless sigh in his ear, the feel of her skin under his palm, her thigh against his own... all the sensations that flooded his completely unprepared mind sent him into a state he knew was the closest he would ever get to being dizzy. Just as he thought it couldn't be any more tantalizing, in a dramatic motion, Emma turned, pressed her back against his chest and slid to the ground, one knee bent the other straight, feet sliding on the floor. Her cheek was at his abdomen when she stopped, and her hand grasped his thigh firmly as he held her up by the arms. She then started to slide up and up and up, all the way brushing her body against his. When their faces were levelled again, he could feel her hot breath against his cheek.

They swirled around again and again, pushing, pulling, brushing to each other, until all the world simply faded. Nothing remained, only the two of them dancing, and the melody heart-breaking and sensual. Finally, he just picked her up and swirled her around understanding now that the embrace spoke of their feelings without words. He slowly stopped and put her down on the floor, their faces close, so close that they felt each other's breath on their slightly parted lips.

He gazed down at her through his long lashes as if a spell was cast on him, and she gazed back with the same devotion and completely out of breath. She was the one to get a grasp on reality first, and she tentatively smiled and took a small step back - releasing him from her embrace.

"I was thinking..." she started on a whisper then swallowed and went on a firmer voice "I was thinking, we could do something like this during the second half of 'Let's face the music, and dance'. Of course, if Bev approves... And you..." she added smiling. Then as he just stared into her eyes wordless, spellbound, she shook her head a little unsure "Or do you not?"

"Of course!" he blurted - and wondered how he would survive even a moment of tango more with her without completely casting their agreement into oblivion.

She smiled a happy, satisfied smile then took the few steps to the counter and hopped onto a bar-stool. He followed her and sat next to her still in almost complete awe.

Emma on the other hand was already herself again. As if nothing just occurred, she looked at him propping her chin on her hand leaning over to the counter: "Would you fix me a drink, handsome? I got pretty thirsty." she asked him still quite out of breath.

Data didn't think he could reply. He looked over at her with wonder in his eyes: she had no uniform-top on, she was breathless, dishevelled, flushed, and her skin glowed with sweat. As his gaze travelled lower, it was plain that she wore nothing beneath her thin under-shirt. She was exquisite! As he just stared at her, she threw her head back and giggled almost innocently as she combed through her long hair sweeping it back behind her bare shoulder.

"May I take a moment?" he answered finally - he managed to find at least one processing thread not currently in use and tried to utilize it for coherent verbal interaction.

She giggled again the exact same way, throwing her head back, exposing her beautiful neck - and an image of him kissing her there flooded his mind almost as a reflex. Then looking back at him from under her lashes with a tender expression on her face, she asked: "So I impressed you, now didn't I? You see how much you miss out by not watching enough 20th century movies?" she teased giggling again.

He took a long breath to at least try to lower his body temperature - one of the many things he used breathing for - not finding enough free resources to act upon her suggestion and find a reference about any of what just happened. He knew he needed to get a grip. He took his gaze off of her, stared ahead and closed his eyes to make a conscious effort of calming his senses.

He heard her giggle again: "Poor Deadpan!" she said on a low voice trying to imitate regret, but it was plain that she was amused. "Now, wait. I help you relax." she told him, and as he opened his eyes, he saw that she hopped up onto the counter and slid behind him.

"What are you..."

"Hush! Just get off the uniform top!" she told him from above him, and when he gave her a wary look, she put both palms onto his cheeks and turned his head forward facing away from her. He finally complied and took off the garment. When he settled back against the counter, she put both hands on his shoulders "Just close your eyes and relax!" she whispered into his ear. Her hot breath in his ear was not much of a help in calming his urges going crazy.

But neither was what she was doing. She slowly massaged his shoulders, and he was sure that under any other circumstances, it would have been a soothing experience. But not after a dance they just had performed! He gave a small grunt as the memories of a few minutes prior flooded his mind.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked at his grunt.

He opened his mouth, but his words just stumbled one after the other "I cannot... be... hurt... Emma!" his eyes shot open and putting a hand on one of hers, he suddenly turned toward her. His expression was almost pleading, and Emma smiled at him a bit regretfully.

"I'm torturing you, aren't I?" she asked leaning to him and snuggled her face into his neck.

He took a full minute to answer. "No. Your ministrations definitely do not meet the definition of torture." he told her on his usual silent tone. He seemed calmer now. He sighed again, and Emma could feel his body temperature dropping under her hands.

He then turned to her, and as she took her hands away, he took them into his and put them back on his shoulders now facing her. Their faces were almost levelled, but not entirely: he had to look up into her eyes as she was crouching there opposite him on the counter. He put his hands on her knees as her legs were pulled underneath her.

A thought struck her then, and she looked at him with a curious expression "Tell me Deadpan! Have you never been flirted to?"

"Was this flirting?" Data asked back just as curious.

"Yes. Giving a massage is a very particular and kind of obvious way to flirt." Emma told him teasing but a bit surprised as well that it never dawned on him.

He seemed to be thinking as he accessed the reference on flirting, then he looked at Emma: "The definition of flirting states that it is a social, often sexual activity that can be done to suggest either an interest in a deeper relationship or to evoke amusement. Based on that definition, the answer to your question is yes, I have been flirted to, although at that time, I was not aware of all the implications of the activity. I did understand though that the behaviour of the lady in question reflected a certain affection."

Emma waited for him to go on, but it seemed, it was all he had to say, so she pushed him with her forefinger playfully "Aaaand?"

"And what?" he cocked his head questioningly.

"What happened? Did you act upon it?" she asked barely able to contain her curiosity.

He seemed to take a moment to consider his answer. His relationship with Jenna was the basis of his belief that he was not evolved enough for a relationship. What if he told Emma about how clumsy he was then in the affairs of the heart? And he did not develop much in this sense in the last years for sure... How would she react?

"Oh, come on!" she leaned close to him with a conspiring smile "You can tell me. I won't be jealous. You went to her, and you made passionate love, and you lived happily ever after until..." she raised her voice in question, and he couldn't help but gave her a very shy smile.

"I... I did go to her." he answered on a low voice, and she could tell that he was very reluctant about telling the story. "However I..." he looked into her eyes almost as if asking for help "I did not make love to her. We did not live happily ever after. It was a very educational experience for me. She helped me understand that I was not evolved enough for a relationship... I believe I am still not." he added reluctantly.

She frowned at him now understanding that she managed to hit a nerve: "But what happened between the two of you? What makes you think you're not ready for a relationship?"

He took another moment to answer then decided that it was better to explain all of it, before Emma herself realizes that he was inadequate for a relationship. "At the time, I did not have emotions. I understood that she felt a certain affection for me and that she wanted a relationship with me. I was reluctant to pursue it, but finally, I decided that as I was able to have friends, I might as well be able to have a relationship of a romantic nature. So I went to her, and we started to deepen our acquaintance."

"Wait-wait there a moment. You are leaving out the part, where you got to like her, where you started to be interested in her, attracted to her. Where was that part?" she asked confused.

"Emma, at that time, I did not have emotions. I was not able to think about people under the terms you are suggesting. I did not like nor dislike people or things."

"You don't want to tell me that you had no preferences, because the ceiling WILL fall on us, Deadpan." she told him incredulously.

"I did have preferences, Emma. I just did not like or dislike them. All of my preferences were based on logic or predefined programming. In this case, it was logical to attempt to emulate a human behaviour that I had never tried to ever before. However, no matter how much I researched on the subject, I failed to emulate the kind of behaviour she was expecting from me."

"Uh, that sounds kinda vague for me, Deadpan. Give me an example." she shook her head getting real confused now.

"Very well." he clasped his hands in his lap and started to recall one of his memories "I was at home painting, we were to meet later that evening. She paid me a visit an hour earlier than we were to meet. I did not expect her at all. She brought me a present, and after she gave it to me, she told me to go back to what I was doing. So I did..."

Emma put a hand to her mouth and suppressed a laugh at this: "No, no, just go on!" she told him at his surprised expression.

He went on a lot more reluctantly: "So she told me, that I was to react in a very different way. Even if she had told me that I should go back to what I was doing, I was supposed to rather pay attention to her and to her gift. So I did as she told me... Later on, I seemed to fail in all the attempts I made in fulfilling her wishes. I tried to emulate the behaviour of a solicitous mate, then tried to emulate a lover's quarrel... both were very unsuccessful attempts at doing as I thought she would like me to act. I even seemed to be doing kissing in the wrong way, when she made me realize that I was not supposed to use several thought-processing threads during the activity, but I was supposed to think only about her." he looked into her eyes seemingly very confused and disappointed "Emma, I do not think I changed much in this sense. Even with emotions, I have no knowledge of what a woman wants in a relationship." he shook his head "I will need to evolve in this more, before I can try again, because it would be immoral to play with the emotions of another or of my own."

She sighed as her heart sank at what he had told him. She started to feel sorry for him, though she knew he needed no pity. She gently stroked his cheek which made him look at her almost shocked - he was sure she would be put off, if she learned about all of this, he was not expecting tenderness at all. "Data..." she said his name in a sigh and smiled at him ruefully "I think I can empathize with the feeling of inadequateness fully. I had a husband who did nothing but criticizing me. It took me some time to realize that he was not right." she took her hand away and shrugged musing "You know, Deadpan, there are a lot of gals out there, who play the kind of game your ex did. They would just tell the guy: 'Lead the way!' but the moment that something is not of their liking, they would tell you 'You're doing it wrong!' and on top of that, they normally don't tell you how they would like you to do things. You know, this is not the way a relationship should work." she shrugged gazing away seemingly a little embarrassed as she added "At least, that's what I was told, because you know, there are a lot of guys out there as well, who would just want a gal to turn into something she isn't, so I've never had the pleasure to experience first hand what it's like to have a working relationship. I suppose in a functioning relationship, you both should be honest about your needs, and accept the capabilities of the other."

Data was not sure how to integrate what she had said into his existing knowledge about his abilities as a potential mate. The one thing that had never occurred to him was that Jenna was wrong! She was the human in their relationship after all, she should have been the one who possessed all the necessary knowledge and who would have the ability to validly assess his performance as a mate.

Emma touched his shoulder lightly to get his attention: "This is why you don't want a relationship? I mean... apart from having all of your issues that you've already told me about." she added quickly a little embarrassed.

Data took her hand gently "Are you not disappointed now that you know that-"

"That you do multi-tasking while kissing?" she finished for him chuckling "For god's sake, Deadpan, I'm not the Thought Police! You may think about ANYTHING you like any time!" then stroked his hand with her thumb "You are who you are. I don't want to change that." she told him on a tender voice. He looked at her amazed, almost awed. It made Emma feel sorry for him again: here was this great guy, and he was full of stupid inhibitions, because he managed to pick the worst girls...

After a moment, she realized that it was not pity that he needed, so she gave him a conspiring grin "Besides, multi-tasking is the coolest feature I've ever heard of!" then held up a forefinger "But! If we ever to be kissing in the future, I don't want to know WHAT you are thinking about as you say 'during the activity', unless it has to do with me or with what we are or would be doing! Deal?" she held out a hand to him.

He blinked at her extended hand then took it and shook it: "Deal."

They both smiled as they shook hands. Data did not let go of her hand, rather took it into both of his and studied the lines on her palm thoughtfully mulling over what she'd told him while enjoying the experience of their skin touching. Emma was watching him with a tender expression, but slowly exhaustion caught up on her. She yawned putting her other hand in front of her mouth. Data raised his head at this: "You are tired."

Emma grunted "Yeah... Bev had the same impression." at his questioning gaze, she went on "Sent me home to rest..."

"So why are you not at home sleeping?" he asked bewildered.

She smiled and leaned closer to his face "Should I miss the opportunity to give you a private dancing lesson for a bit of sleeping?" she shook her head, and he suddenly realized how tired her eyes seemed "No way in hell." she whispered and snuggled her cheek to his. Her arms slid around his neck, her eyes closed instinctively as she breathed in his clear scent and felt his skin under her mouth. Her lips instinctively pressed to his cheek and started to look for his mouth with soft kisses "You're a quick study..." she breathed softly as she felt his lips on her cheek in return for her caresses.

"You are an excellent instructor..." he told her on a low voice "Mmmm... Emma..." before his own arousal took the better of him, he took her face in his hands and gently pushed her away: "We are not going out, remember? We are friends resisting a crush."

She looked at him with unfocused eyes for a moment. She swallowed and pulled away from his hands resignedly "Barely succeeding, right?" she sighed. The excitement lessened if even for a little bit, and she suddenly felt the fatigue catching up on her again. She yawned once more putting a hand in front of her mouth "I think I need a coffee." she declared hopping off the counter.

"You need sleep." he told her climbing off the bar stool.

Oh, she just couldn't miss this one! She turned to him and in one motion, cuddled up to him sliding her arms around his waist "Yeah, that's what I need, to sleep." she snuggled her mouth to his neck "With you." She couldn't resist! She felt drunk by their tango and by their closeness and by his innocence and... oh, she just didn't want to resist anymore!

He couldn't help but chuckle at this. He was aware of the figurative meaning of the expression she used but decided to ignore it: "I suppose sleeping in the same bed with me would not lead to a sufficient amount of rest for you." he told her on an ever-serious tone.

She giggled at his neck, then playfully put her lower arms on his chest as if to prop her elbows on him and gave him a mock-frown: "You know that you're a hard-ass, don't you?" she then pointed her forefinger at him "And you know what, it's good that you're such a hard-ass. You remember what Ilsa told Rick: you will need to think for both of us! That's how I feel..." her gaze dropped from his eyes to his lips "sometimes..." and she felt lost, completely lost looking back into his eyes again "many times..." she breathed.

He felt that familiar warm feeling spreading around in his body again, and he couldn't resist to put his arms around her waist "I wish I could ask somebody else to think for me." he told her honestly, because he didn't think he could resist her any longer.

She was in his arms, her soft body pressed to his - he could feel her heart racing against his own through their thin under-shirts as she slid her arms around his neck. There was no reason, no rationality, no doubt anymore, only the need to feel her close, closer... to feel her taste in his mouth... He closed the distance between them and pushed his lips against hers for one sweet moment in a fleeting, close-mouthed kiss. He heard her needy moan as he let her go for an instant then felt her push her lips up against his again. He felt her hold him to her tightly, as if she never wanted to let go! He took her upper lip between his own and felt her caress his lower lip with her soft tongue. It made him hold her even closer, he really didn't think he could let her go!

Just as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss, they heard the familiar clank of the holodeck door, and they broke away looking at the intruder confused and out of breath.

"Oh, I hope I didn't interrupt anything." Will Riker stood there with a slightly embarrassed grin on his face.

Emma looked at Data as they reluctantly pulled away from each other, both of them a little distracted and self-conscious. "So. I guess we were eavesdropped on, cause we did get somebody to think for both of us..." she told him on a lower voice than she intended. She then cleared her throat and walked back to the bar to fetch her uniform top.

Data looked after her almost forgetting about the intruder in the room. He licked his lips: her taste was still there, leaving him with a tantalizing desire! He wanted so much to go on kissing her, that the craving almost bordered on pain. He wondered whether the sensation of hunger bore any resemblance to the feeling that just gripped his mind and body now - probably starvation might be a closer analogy.

"It is alright, Commander." he replied to Will on a flat tone, when he managed to isolate at least one processing thread that could be dedicated to verbal interaction but was still unable to tear his gaze off of Emma.

She got to the counter and found both of their uniform tops. She picked them up from the bar-stool and held the two garments close. What are we doing?! she asked herself scared. She gazed back at Data - he was talking to Riker. I don't want to resist this anymore! I want him so much! Oh, just stop it! You are drooling like a teenage chick! Get yourself together! You're the one who's older, more mature! It is YOU who has to think for both of you!

She walked up to them and handed Data his uniform, she had already put on hers.

"Thank you." he told her on a silent voice. Will noted amused that his android friend barely had eyes for anything or anybody else but Emma.

She looked at Will a bit bemused "What brings you here after missing out two rehearsals, stranger?" she cleared her throat realizing that she was talking to her superior "I mean, Commander, Sir." she corrected herself on a lower voice.

"I don't suppose I need to share my personal schedule with you, Lieutenant, or am I wrong?" Will asked her on a mock-strict voice.

Emma bowed her head and suddenly felt she utterly hated this whole. She had always loathed hierarchy, ten years on a distant colony made her forget what it was like to feel it on your skin that you have a superior above you.

"Commander," they heard Data's silent voice "Ms. Jones meant no offence. We all wondered whether you lost interest in the play, as you did not show up at the last two rehearsals, when you were scheduled to join us."

"I know, Data." Will smiled now friendly "I had some overtime to do now that we lost you on the Bridge." he added wincing "I hope you can return as soon as possible, my friend. And really not just because of the overtimes." As Emma looked at him, he seemed sincere in his concern for Data.

"I hope it too, Commander. Thank you." Data nodded.

Will turned back to Emma "And I meant no dressing down, Ms. Jones, middle-name 'married'." he smiled challengingly at her as she looked up at him surprised "I see that sometimes we both might come across a bit too harsh, right?"

She smiled at him and nodded a bit timidly "I suppose, we might."

"Do you think we can make peace?" he asked her on a tone that sounded really friendly to her - finally, there was no trace of HIS 'hunting' intentions, and it made Emma relax a little.

She nodded again: "I hope we can."

"Great!" he said and gently touched her arm. It made her pull away as if she was burned, and she instinctively stepped closer to Data. Both males noticed her reaction, and Data, seeing her uncomfortable look, tried to change the subject.

"Commander. Would you like to cover the scenes that you have missed during the last two rehearsals? I would be happy to guide you through. We have over two hours until the others arrive." he offered.

"Sure, Data! Actually, I was hoping we could do that." Will nodded.

Data turned to Emma "And in the meantime, Ms. Jones can have a short recreational session for herself." he smiled assertively.

She couldn't help but smile at this. Though kind and gentle, but he had his way! Even with her. "Very well! I'll be at the bar, if you should need me!" and with a nod to both of them, turned and left them alone.

Will clapped Data on the back "I see you're managing quite well in the taming of that shrew, my friend. Good for you!" Data was not sure how to react to this, and Will just nodded to the stage smiling "Now, shall we?"

In a quarter of an hour, Emma was sleeping deeply, resting her head on her arms on the counter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The tango scene is a mixture of the tango scenes from the films 'Shall We Dance' and 'Scent of a Woman'. Some of the lines of these scenes also actually got used. I recommend the song 'Por una Cabeza' for you to listen, it's probably the most enchanting tango song ever written.
> 
> Please, leave a review whether you liked this scene or not. I rewrote it a few times, and now I'm completely unsure of it :) (Be gentle in your criticism, if you didn't like it, please. Thank you!)


	27. Chapter 27

"So you had no sleep at all..." Emma heard Beverly's bemused voice and raised her head sharply from her arms.

"I'm awake, I'm awake..." she mumbled and wiped the drool off her mouth with her uniform sleeve. Then put her head back into her palm propping her elbow on the counter and tried to get the room to stop from spinning "Bev..."

"I can see that you're awake." Beverly told her on a reprimanding voice "I sent you home to rest. You are exhausted."

Emma then looked at her and this time seemed fully awake, though she had circles under her eyes "Don't worry, Mother Hen! I'm fine. Don't ya have other chicken to take care about?" she teased her not too gently - her sarcasm got worse with the lack of sleep. She looked around and found Data standing wordlessly behind her, and she frowned almost irritated "You know Deadpan, that I hate it when you sneak up on me like that!" she jabbed a finger at him. "Has Riker already left?"

Before either Beverly or Data could answer, the door opened and Reg and Sonya stepped through it.

Data replied to her question, while Bev went to greet the newcomers "We rehearsed the necessary scenes in the last two hours and twenty-six minutes. He does not have many lines. He wishes to participate only because of the experience."

"I see." she told him and somehow her irritation turned into a sudden sense of embarrassment by the thought that the two of them were left alone. Even with Bev and the others in the room. She gazed into his eyes as he stood there next to her. She sighed. Was I just dreaming? Or we kissed? We really kissed, Deadpan? Your lips were on mine? Must have been, because I can recall the feeling! I can recall your taste...

"I believe, we should join the others." he told her suddenly stepping away from her, and she nodded realizing that she should definitely not go down that road. Not for now - not ever, she reprimanded herself.

They rehearsed some of the previous scenes then went on with the new ones.

"This scene is the highest emotional point in the play." Beverly started to explain "The whole story is a roller-coaster of emotions. First starting high up with him looking for love, then we have some small ups and downs, while She decides what She wants, then we are soaring again, when they get together - we even have fireworks there - just to be very disappointed, when they break up. She sings 'Let love die' making the scene very depressing. And after listening to some very sad and melancholic songs, we get the hopeful atmosphere of 'Come back to me'. Even the melody has an upward motion as if climbing a mountain."

"I noticed that too, Doctor." Data replied seemingly very intrigued "I suppose we need to somehow preserve the emotional height the song reaches at the end and climb even higher with the next scene. It is certainly a climactic point."

Emma stood there listening to them and started to feel more and more uncomfortable. She never had the time to sort out her feelings about her kiss with Data just a few hours before, and here they were needing to perform a quite intimate, passionate scene. She had never before felt embarrassed about cuddling close to Data with the others around, but now she felt she would somehow sell their attraction, if she touched him or even looked at him. And she was not ready for others to consider them a couple! Hell, she was not ready to consider them a couple in her own head! Just cut it out! she yelled at herself. This is just a scene. The kiss we are supposed to do will just be for the stage. Nothing of consequence! Nobody will think anything! Try to act as an adult!

But no matter how much she tried to reprimand herself or reason with her own mind, she felt more and more embarrassed as they got closer and closer to the point of reconciliation in the play. It took all her energy to hide it from the others. By the time she was to knock on his hotel room door, her heart was gripped by a mixture of fear, embarrassment and excitement - she didn't have to act that she was out of breath, she was gasping from her strong emotions as she was.

He opened the door, and there she stood beaming with joy.

"Can I come in?" she asked breathlessly and stepped in.

"How did you..." he looked at her completely dumbfounded.

"I left right after the first 'Come back to me' ." she replied giggling and gasping both from running and from her emotions.

The next moment, Data pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips gently to hers. After a moment however, he tilted his head and deepened the chaste peck, kissing her fully on the lips. Her eyes shot open in shock for a brief moment just to close on their own accord from the irresistible sensations he was creating in her. This was definitely NOT a kiss for only the stage! His strong arms were holding her firmly against him, and he explored her mouth thoroughly with the most tender kiss she had ever experienced. She stopped being embarrassed then. It wasn't important that they were not alone or that they were rehearsing a play. She held him firmly clasping her arms around his neck and kissed him back desperately - Oh, please! Please, don't let go!

But the moment passed, and he broke away from her. She looked at him through her long lashes as their lips parted slowly. She could feel his hot breath on her wet mouth, and she couldn't help gazing from his eyes to his lips.

"Data!" they heard Beverly's voice suddenly, and the magic was broken.

They broke away and instantly let go of each other as if noticing that they were not alone for the first time. Emma hugged herself as she felt her cheeks burn. Beverly, Reg and Sonya were all looking at them with an embarrassed smile.

"Yes, Doctor." Data turned to Beverly with a neutral expression as if nothing just happened.

Beverly stepped up to them: "Data, I don't think that a kiss on the stage should... look the way you just..." she was not really sure how to finish.

Data frowned thoughtfully clasping his hands in front of him "I have thoroughly researched the subject when studying this scene, Doctor. The script states: 'He kisses her as passionately as He can.' So I attempted to find information on what is considered to be a so called passionate kiss." he sounded completely matter-of-factly. "I have to admit that I have found quite contradictory descriptions. For example..."

"Alright, alright, Data! Before you go into any descriptions... I understand, I suppose we all do." Beverly cut in now blushing slightly. As Data looked around, all three observers were now giggling or smiling. He didn't mind to be the object of ridicule - he was used to it to a certain extent - but then he looked over at Emma. She was standing there with one of her arms around herself, and a hand in front of her mouth. Her cheeks were deep red, and she looked really embarrassed - very unlike her.

Seeing her like that made his heart sink "I am sorry." he told her on a low voice regretting what he had done more than he ever thought he could regret anything. And she seemed to regret it just as much! Did she regret their earlier kiss as well? This is why she reacted the way she did just now? She had never shown embarrassment if they were to touch or cuddle on stage - or off stage. And now there she stood almost mortified. He suddenly felt horrible.

She glanced up at him, but before she could say anything, Beverly stepped up to them.

"No, no, guys. It's my fault. I should have talked to you about this before actually rehearsing it. Data, have you never heard about a thing called 'theatrical kiss'?" as he did not reply, Beverly went on "You don't need to actually kiss Emma passionately. It just should LOOK passionate."

Data just nodded and kept his gaze on Emma. When he didn't say anything, she finally looked up at him "I-I... I can help you with it... I'll explain to you... later." she stammered. Her cheeks were slowly returning to their normal color.

"Alright." Beverly told them and seeing that this scene would just lead to more embarrassment, she decided to let it go for now "Guys, let's just do something different, and we will get back to this scene tomorrow. Okay?" she turned to Sonya "Sonya, you were saying that you're almost done with the design of the costumes, right?"

"Yes, Beverly." the young woman replied, and Bev stepped to her.

Data looked at Emma again, this time with a remorseful look: "Please forgive me, I was inconsiderate."

She gazed at him with a surprised expression then smiled gently "Don't be sorry, Deadpan... Your research was quite fruitful, you know. I really think it WAS the most passionate kiss I've ever got." her voice was soft and tender, and somehow it made Data feel even more remorseful. But he tried to smile back at her reluctantly, and a moment later, they joined the others to discuss the costumes.

At the end of the rehearsal, Data stepped to Emma before she could leave. She was very silent throughout the rehearsal, and by the end of it, his remorse was worse than ever. He really wanted - needed! - to discuss with her what had occurred between them before and during the rehearsal.

"Emma, do you have a moment for me, please?" he asked, and she could see that it was really important for him.

She looked at him apologetically "Sorry, but not really. I have a session with Counsellor Troi... Data, if it's about that silly kiss on stage, never mind. I'm really not angry at you. You didn't know..."

"Yes, I did!" he replied finally blurting out the truth. And he felt just as horrible as he seemed.

Emma frowned at him: "What do you mean?" she asked shocked.

"See you, guys!" they heard Reg say goodbye for himself and Sonya as well as they passed by them. They politely said goodbye to them and to Bev and once again remained alone in the holodeck.

"What do you mean?" she asked on a lower voice now. She somehow knew that whatever she was about to hear will not be of her liking...

"I mean that... I did research the subject. And I knew about the fact that on stage... it is not customary to actually perform a real kiss. I swear I did not intend to! However before Commander Riker came in, I... you..." he shook his head lost "I do not know what happened! I do not know what to say. I do not believe I can find the words."

Emma looked at him for a moment longer just as lost, then simply turned: "I need to go, I don't want to be late." she told him on a silent voice and started for the door.

Data caught up with her in the doorway and touched her arm: "Emma, please..."

But she looked at him with the same bewildered expression she had given Riker earlier that day when she was touched. She had never expressed fear ever before in response to Data's touch, and his remorse reached new, never before imagined heights... He let her go instantly and just looked into her eyes pleading "Please, just say something. Please! I cannot tell you how sorry I am. Please, forgive me!"

She shook her head upset "Forgive you? How? ...I haven't even the slightest clue what to THINK or what to feel... You really think you're the only one confused about what is happening to us? Well, just for you to know, I'm just as confused!" she seemed almost desperate as she shook her head again "I don't want to talk about this now... I really need to go..." she told him on a silent voice.

He nodded and did not try to stop her this time. After a moment, she was gone, leaving him all alone in the holodeck.

Why?! Why was he so inconsiderate? What was he thinking?! This was the point... he was NOT thinking at all. How ironic! With Jenna, he was thinking too much not having emotions, with Emma he was not thinking at all only followed his emotions. And his emotions changed him so much, sometimes he could barely recognize himself. He couldn't find the logical processing thread that led him to kiss her that way on stage... and after a little time, he realized there weren't any.

He wandered aimlessly on the corridors after leaving the holodeck. He had no desire to go home. After a short while, he realized that he felt an emotion he hadn't for over two months now: he wanted company. He didn't want to be alone. Maybe Counsellor Troi was right after all. He WAS making progress.

He stopped at a panel and touched it: "Computer, locate Commander La Forge!"

"Lieutenant Commander La Forge is in Ten Forward." the female voice replied, and he sighed. He really did not feel like being among so many people, but it seemed he had no choice. Being alone seemed now the less appealing option opposed to being in a crowd...


	28. Chapter 28

When he entered Ten Forward, he felt he attracted a bit of attention: it seemed as if all eyes were on him as he crossed to the table where Geordi, Will and Beverly were sitting.

Will was smiling up at him with a broad grin: "Data! Come sit down!"

He contemplated the offer for a short moment, because he was not sure Geordi approved of his presence. While the doctor and Riker was smiling kindly at him, Geordi seemed to ignore him completely. His heart sank, but decided to stay anyways. "Thank you, Commander." he said finally on his usual silent tone and sat down.

"Where did you leave Lieutenant Jones?" Riker asked naughtily.

Data was a little surprised at his choice of words but answered nonetheless: "I did not leave her anywhere, Commander. She is having a session with Counsellor Troi."

"Oh, so she might join us in half an hour with Deanna then!" Riker concluded knowing exactly Troi's schedule.

Beverly shook her head "I don't think so, Will. Unfortunately, Emma needs to study. When she is finally done with the Differential Exam, I will persuade her to join us here more often. But till then, I'm afraid she won't have the time."

"Why does she need to take an exam?" Will asked curiously.

"You heard about the Epsilon Four colony." she answered simply.

"The one with that strange cult of the 21st century? Yeah, I heard about it. Always sounded quite creepy." he mockingly shook himself as if a tremor went through him.

"It WAS creepy, Will, believe me!" she went on "She got married to a man who originally was a colonist and later became a high-ranking official in the government of the colony. After they declared independence, and the Federation had no authority any longer, literally no one left the colony. Emma told me they were not physically restricted, but the cult worked in a way that most people were deprived of the means to leave, and even if they had the means, they actually didn't WANT to leave. Of course, she didn't stay because she was a follower of the cult. She stayed to help. She used the means she had and the knowledge she gathered in Starfleet to help in the colony's hospital, but it was forbidden to use technology beyond the 21st century. Imagine a world where they still had money, still had hunger and poverty... and barely any means to help the sick compared to the technology we are provided now."

"Amazing..." Will growled "Who would want to live in a world like that? I don't see the reason behind it."

"You know how such cults work, Will." Beverly turned her palms up gesturing as she explained "There have always been people who wanted to live a different life. In the 21st century, there were people who still lived as if they were in the 19th century. Do you remember the name, Data?" she looked at him unsure.

"The Amish, Doctor." he replied, and she nodded remembering. Then went on.

"And in the 23rd century some people longed for a life in the 20th century. Remember them? They were called the Brotherhood."

"Sure! They lived on an island on Earth until they ran out of raw materials." Will nodded remembering what all of them had to learn at the Academy's history lessons.

"Well, this cult was no different. Only they created an own colony for themselves." Beverly finished.

"The basic motivation behind such a cult is to gain power over peers." Data added "Controlling people with money and the deprivation of basic necessities is the simplest way to gain that power. The people within the cult start to believe that they are dependent on the leaders of the cult, and of course after the colony broke away from the Federation, it actually became the painful truth." He researched the subject when he started to be interested in Emma and was shocked to find where and how she had to live before joining the Enterprise crew. That was the moment he stopped wondering about why Emma was frightened of people, or why she tried to scare everybody away.

Beverly and Will smiled at him kindly - both of them were thinking about how much they missed Data's lengthy explanations. After a moment, the doctor went on "But to answer your original question, Will, as Emma stayed there for over a decade with this limited technology, she needs to catch up with where we are now in modern medicine. She does have a Medical degree, but in a decade, you forget a lot. The other option is for her to go back to the Academy for a refreshment year."

"Going back to the Academy as a Lieutenant with decades of experience? Sounds kinda appalling." Will winced. They nodded agreeing on that except for Geordi who sat there in silence.

Data looked at him trying to determine what he might be thinking, but the Engineer just looked over at the crowd in the room and pretended to ignore the whole conversation. An uncomfortable silence descended on them. Bev and Will exchanged a meaningful look as they both noticed the tension between the two friends.

"I was going to order another drink, Beverly, what would you say about helping me choose one?" Will offered a consciously obvious excuse, and Beverly chuckling assented "Oh, sure!" and they left the two men alone.

Geordi looked after them for a moment longer then cleared his throat "I guess I better go." he said dryly standing up.

"Please, don't!" Data looked up at him pleading "Please, stay!"

Geordi for the first time that evening looked into his eyes. After a long moment, he sat back opposite him. He pressed the tips of his fingers together "Is there anything I can help you with." he lowered his voice at the end of the sentence, it was not a real question.

"Yes, you could, Geordi. If you could just listen to what I need to say." Data asked, and he still had that pleading expression on his face that started to melt the ice around Geordi's heart. The Chief Engineer motioned for him to go on, so he did: "I know that you are angry at me." he said on a regretful voice "You have all the reasons to be. I only want to tell you that I am sorry. Especially about the way we parted the last time we spoke. I was wrong in asking you to remove my emotion-chip, and I was even more wrong in dismissing you the way I did. I found that you were right in more ways that you could possibly imagine. It is difficult to explain. Some of the emotions I have felt in the last few months I still do not understand. Therefore, I cannot explain them to you either."

Geordi sighed clasping his fingers - that ice around his heart was almost completely thawed away "Data..." he looked into his eyes "I know how messed up you must've been. I was not angry about that. I guess I was mad mostly, because I felt frustrated that I couldn't help you. It was like banging in a wall every time I tried to."

"I know. However, I do not suppose I can explain my actions thoroughly to you." Data shook his head reluctantly.

"You know... perhaps you don't have to. I guess it's enough that you are here talking to me now." Geordi smiled finally.

"Thank you, Geordi!" Data smiled back and felt genuinely glad that he managed to reconcile with his best friend.

"To tell you the truth, I'm really happy to see you out here. I guess it means you're feeling better, right?" Geordi asked a little cautiously.

Data had to think for a moment to be able to give him an honest answer "I also believe I have made progress in this regard." he replied finally on a silent voice.

"What about any other regards?" Geordi asked then backed away as he saw how reluctant his friend seemed to be "Look, if I'm asking too many questions, just tell me, and I shut up! For me, it's enough if we are sitting here in silence."

Data gazed away for a short moment then back at him and tried to smile a little "I do feel better, Geordi. Especially compared to the last occasion we spoke. I do not experience hallucinations anymore, and the frequency of the flashbacks became less since I have been going to therapy. Counsellor Troi believes I will make a full recovery very shortly."

Geordi nodded thoughtfully "Yeah, the flashbacks, tell me about it..." and Data realized that Geordi actually knew from experience what he was talking about. He suddenly felt the way he many times did while talking to Geordi: he was not all alone in the universe anymore, he found a brother in him that he never actually had in Lore.


	29. Chapter 29

"What makes you be so apprehensive of Commander Riker?" Deanna asked Emma after listening to her story about how she made peace with him.

Emma frowned leaning forward and clasping her hands together "I don't think it's a good idea to answer this question to YOU, I guess." she grimaced.

"Because you are convinced that Commander Riker and I are a couple and that I might be jealous." Deanna concluded Emma's thread of thought.

Emma shrugged "I know that you keep it a secret. But yeah, basically, yes."

"Emma, this is YOUR therapeutic session. Forget about how I would feel about what you need to tell me, and just tell me how you actually feel."

Emma shrugged again and gazed away uncomfortably "Fine, it's just... I really hate it, how he looks at me at times. I hate it even more, when he tries to touch me."

"Touch you where?" Deanna asked on a neutral tone.

Emma chuckled almost wickedly "You see, you ARE jealous!"

"Do I have a reason to? Have you happened to have sex with Commander Riker?" the betazoid counsellor asked without missing a beat on a slightly mocking tone.

"No! Of course not!" Emma almost shouted in response. She then rolled her eyes giving in "Alright. He just touched my arm. It was a friendly gesture, nothing more."

"It seems to have an added meaning in your head though."

"I hate it when people think they can go around and touch other people whenever they like." Emma pouted looking away.

"Some people like to touch other people. For example, Commander La Forge and Commander Riker is that kind of people." she then reached out and touched her hand gently "And me too." she smiled kindly.

Emma looked at her seemingly all tensed up at the touch then relaxed, but it rather seemed to be a conscious effort than the soothing effect of the touch. Deanna felt her awkwardness and let her go. Emma answered a little embarrassed "Well, I'm not really comfortable with that."

"Why is Commander Data an exception to your apprehension of people touching you?" Deanna asked to push her a little into the direction she could sense Emma wanted to go more than anything, but out of timidity that Deanna could sense to be radiating from Emma, she kept beating around the bush. And they were running out of time.

Emma looked at her surprised then shrugged again "I guess because he seems to be just as uncomfortable in this matter as I am." she smiled gently gazing away "He is always a little shocked when somebody touches him."

"And if YOU touch him?"

She seemed to consider this for a moment then smiled "No. With me he is comfortable. It's because of the play I suppose. We need to dance together so much, pressed so close to each other... We both learned to be used to the touch of the other... It's now almost second nature..."

"And yet you feel now terribly unsure."

Emma looked daggers at her "I almost forgot I was talking to an empath, thanks for the reminder."

"You are very welcome, Emma. However I still think that instead of commenting on my therapeutic methods, you would rather benefit from considering what I am telling you." her voice was not reprimanding, but she wanted to hold up a mirror to her sarcasm, so she could see how that looks in the eyes of others.

"What do you want me to tell you?!" Emma asked now openly upset "He kissed me today! And I wanted it! I wanted it so much, I can barely put it into words!" she suddenly became completely out of breath "I have no idea what is happening to me, when I'm near him! I just lose my wits and become a stupid teenage girl with the biggest crush in her stupid little life! And it's all wrong! All of it, Counsellor! I'm still married. He is having doubts too, and he... he would deserve a girl who doesn't have the baggage that I drag around with me everywhere I go... Somebody who wouldn't get scared, if he makes her feel that he really wants her..." her eyes filled with tears as she went on on a thin voice "I want to be strong for him, because he needs that so much. Needs somebody to tell him how great a guy he is... But... What if he realizes how messed up I am?"

Deanna let her wipe her eyes and waited for her to calm down a little - she herself needed a moment too, to recover from sensing Emma's all-consuming fear. After a moment, Emma tried to smile which rather became a grimace "Okay, I stop this stupidity now. There's no point in it, is there?" she groaned on a low voice.

Deanna looked at her for a moment longer then started to talk to her on her calm, soothing voice "To find an outlet for your emotions is never in vain, Emma. I think we have not moved away from your original issue: control. Commander Riker makes you feel that you are hunted down, when he touches you, and it scares you to death, whereas when you're the hunter, you have no problem with touching people. And I don't only mean Data. I mean Lieutenant Barclay as well. Then again, as Data is expressing his attraction to you either in words or in deeds, you get scared because he has the control."

"With him it's different, Counsellor!" Emma cut in "Most of the time, I even crave after his touch. I... I trust him, I think... I could give that control over to him... But this kiss..." she shook her head "I thought that when we would finally kiss, it would wipe all my doubts away. And when we were kissing, it did! But after it... I never thought it would make me doubt myself more than ever."

"Have you ever considered talking about your doubts to him?" Emma looked at her as if she suddenly grew an additional head, but Deanna went on "You say you trust him. Trust involves exposing our weaknesses to our partner. To let him reassure you the way you reassure him. To give him an opportunity to tell you that you are a 'great girl', just as you tell him that he is a 'great guy' worthy of your love."

"Love..." Emma repeated the last word silently.

* * *

Geordi and Data were walking silently on the corridor to go home. Finally, Data decided to bring up the one subject that was on his mind for a few hours now.

"Geordi, could you tell me... what it is like to be in love?" he asked silently.

Geordi stopped surprised and looked at him with an amazed smile "So the gossips are true! You do have a girlfriend!"

Data looked at him slightly embarrassed "I do not know who told you that piece of gossip, however it is not entirely true."

"Not entirely? Just how true is it then?" Geordi asked and was not able to wipe the grin off his face.

They started to walk again as Data tried to answer as precisely as he could "She and I... we share a certain infatuation." he looked at Geordi again "A crush. And I wonder what is love like compared to the crush we currently feel."

"Well, Data... I suppose you are asking the wrong person about this. I'm not the most experienced in the matters of the heart." Geordi shrugged apologetically.

"But you have been in love before in your life." Data told him looking into his eyes.

They stopped at the turbolift door and waited for it to open.

"Sure. Many times, in fact." Geordi shrugged again "Well, it's a feeling deeper than a crush. Though I always thought that a crush is a very good basis for real love to follow. But it's a feeling that makes you think of her ALL the time. Makes you want to be with her. But not just right now, at the moment. It makes you see yourselves in the future together. Makes you plan a life with her. It makes you want to share your life with her, all your experiences - well if not all, then most at least." he chuckled "Well, it normally makes you want to have children with her, but I suppose that is not much of a help for you." he winced apologetically again.

"I may adopt, or I may try to create a child again, if there is a technological breakthrough in cybernetics, Geordi. Having a child is not out of my grasp at all." Data told him with a slight smile as the doors opened, and they stepped in.

"Deck Two." Data called.

"Deck Five." Geordi's orders followed. "You know, you're right."

A moment of silence passed between them, when only the monotonous sound of the turbolift could be heard. Then Data looked at his friend again:

"And what do you do if... if you hurt her? Accidentally or... because you were not considerate enough of her feelings." he seemed to be ashamed.

Geordi smiled at this and put a hand on his friend's shoulder: "So this is why you came for me today? You needed advice?"

Data frowned a little confused "I need your advice. But I did not want to reconcile with you solely because of that need, Geordi. Though it was a factor in my intent. Is that selfish?" he suddenly asked reluctantly as he realized he might actually have been selfish.

Geordi laughed at this and patted him on the back: "Oh, I missed you, Data!" he shook his head still grinning "I don't mind that you wanted to reconcile out of selfishness now that we did. I'm glad you still consider me a friend whom you can trust enough to ask these questions." he took his hand away and looked into the android's still a bit confused eyes. "Look. If you have hurt her, try to apologize."

"I tried. It was thoroughly inconclusive. She told me, she was not sure... if she could forgive." at least this was what Emma's words seemed to mean.

"Well, without knowing what you did, it's hard to give advice." Geordi said, but then as Data just looked at him without a word, he realized there was no point to push his single-minded friend about it. He rather went on "Then try to make it up for her. Try to explain yourself as much as you can, and let her know that you care about her. And that you would wait for her until she can forgive you. I guess... You see, I'm not very good at this really." Geordi shrugged.

Data smiled encouragingly "I suppose you are better at it than I am. You might be better at it than you realize you are."

The lift stopped, and the door opened on Deck 5.

"Well, here's my stop." Geordi declared then smiled at his friend again "If you'd like to talk some more, you can come over. You could tell me more about this girl of yours. You got me curious now."

"Thank you, Geordi, but I think I will try your suggestion and try to explain myself to her."

"Fine." Geordi nodded then gave him a challenging smile "Am I gonna see you more often after this? Or even less, because you will be busy having a girlfriend."

Data took a moment to consider what he heard then laughed softly "I hope we will see each other as often as we used to, Geordi. Because I missed you too." he added. It was true, but it was confusing that he felt the emotion now, when they were finally together again.

Geordi grinned and patted his upper arm in response. "Night, my friend." he said as he stepped out of the lift.

"Good night, Geordi." Data said, then as the doors closed, he called "Deck 8."


	30. Chapter 30

After the session with Counsellor Troi, at home, Emma changed into an old sweater and a shabby pair of trousers that were the most comfortable clothes she had. She huddled up on her small couch, padd in hand and started to study. But yet again, she barely could pay attention to what she was reading. The more her thoughts wandered, the worse she felt about how they parted with Data. He probably felt bad about that stupid kiss on the stage, and now she regretted not reassuring him right away. If only she was not as confused as she was when they parted... But now her mind cleared up a little, and she became angry at herself for letting him feel so miserable! Who was she to judge him for his desires? What if he gets so depressed or confused that he turns himself off again? She put her padd down. She couldn't let that happen! She got up and left her quarters.

She went to his place, worry growing with every step she took. When she pressed the door chime, as twice before, no answer came. Her throat closed. "Please don't do this to me, Deadpan. I don't think I can handle finding you 'dead' again! Please open the door!" she pleaded. No use, silence was the only reply she received. She turned and pressed her back to his door frustrated then reached out with her hand and pressed the panel on the wall "Computer, locate Commander Data." she commanded, and felt her heart gripped by the coldest fear as she hoped beyond hope that the answer was a place on the ship and not that he was not on board. She knew now that she had got that answer, because he had been deactivated and not because the computer wasn't able to detect artificial lifeforms.

"Lieutenant Commander Data is on Deck 8."

She exhaled a long breath pressing her back to the door again, this time in relief as she felt a huge stone rolling off her heart. Then she frowned realizing that THAT was actually her deck. "Computer! Where exactly is he?"

"Lieutenant Commander Data is on corridor C, in front of room 2284."

Hearing the number of her own quarters, Emma smiled in wonder and felt she could have burst from happiness. She barely could keep her breathing calm as - not having her combadge on - she pressed the panel again: "Lieutenant Jones to Commander Data."

"Data here." she heard his comvoice and thought she could hear a hint of surprise in his otherwise neutral tone.

"Hi! Could you just stay where you are right now for me? Please?" she added a bit embarrassed and felt her cheeks burn with excitement.

After a brief moment of silence came his reply "Of course, Ms. Jones."

"Thanks." she closed the channel and literally sprinted to the closest turbolift.

In the lift, she tapped on the wall impatiently with her fingers "Come on, fly!" she muttered, and when the doors opened, she jumped out and ran in the corridors until she got to the last corner. There she stopped suddenly realizing how stupid she would look running up to him after parting with him the way she had done - or just running up at him as it is! she correcter herself.

She took a long breath and swallowed to calm herself down. She combed through her slightly dishevelled hair and adjusted her oversized sweater. Play it cool! she told herself as she stepped around the corner with as neutral an expression as she could muster with that warm buzz she felt.

But he smiled at her that timid, shy smile of his from afar, and she couldn't help but return it with the excitement of a high school girl seeing her date for her prom.

When she got to him, he told her on a reassuring voice "You need not have hurried. I would have waited for you as you requested any amount of time."

"I didn't hurry!" she blurted trying to sound nonchalant but actually just seemed embarrassed.

"You were running. Until the cor...ner..." that was the moment he realized that he probably shouldn't have pointed that out.

She gaped at him then couldn't help but chuckle "That's that for playing it cool, ha? I forgot about your awesome android senses."

He was not sure how to reply to her teasing, so he just looked at her with a serious expression and decided to get to the subject he wanted to talk to her about "Emma, I came to explain myself to you-"

"Wait-wait!" she smiled raising her eyebrows "Are you not coming in?"

"I... I was not sure whether I would be welcome in your home." he told her reluctantly.

At that point, she felt utterly horrible for making him so remorseful. She put her hand on his arm out of instinct, and he looked at her confused. "Oh, come on..." she whispered and pulled him in.

Inside, he looked around curious and was surprised to find that her quarters were almost as Spartan as his were.

"Yeah, not much decor." she winced embarrassed as she stepped to the couch "You see, when I left Epsilon Four, I didn't bring a lot of stuff."

This time he was willing to accept without any further empirical evidence that she actually could read his mind. When his surprise wore off, he tried to give her a coherent answer "You could always replicate whatever you wish to decorate your quarters with." he told her watching as she took her shoes off and put on a pair of pink, fluffy slippers.

She crossed to him as she explained "I know, I just... never have the time to figure out what I want. Besides, I spend almost no time in here. Except for sleeping." she chuckled embarrassed "And even that is not a very long time." she told him now looking up at him standing opposite him in the middle of the room.

He looked at her with that serious expression he had on in the corridor "I will not rob much of your recreational time, I promise."

She smiled at him almost pleadingly "Please, Data, stop trying to apologize. It's really not necessary. I was wro..."

But he cut in "But it is necessary, Emma! Please listen to me! I need to explain myself to you."

She had to let him talk. She knew she would have plenty of time to reassure him afterwards "Alright." she told him on a low voice "Would you like to sit down?"

"I would prefer standing face to face to you, thank you." he replied quickly.

She nodded "I'm listening."

"Thank you!" he told her and cocking his head to the side started to talk "I am not sure, if I will be able to put all of my emotions into words. However, I will attempt to tell you all that I am able to. When you cuddled up to me a few minutes before Commander Riker entered the holodeck, I felt that I did not want to think. Not even on one single processor thread! In that particular moment, I wanted to discard all cognitive functions in exchange to feel all the emotions that my emotion-chip generated. It was a unique moment for me. Before, I have always tried to fight between my emotional processes and my rational thought-processes. And most of the time, I relied on my rationality. This was the first time in my life that I was ready to give all control over to my emotions. To use an aphorism Doctor Crusher made me aware of: I listened to my heart. I suppose it is very difficult to empathize with what I am telling you, because for a human, this is a natural process." he paused for a moment to consider how to go on.

She chuckled gazing into his eyes lovingly "Fighting between our mind and our heart? It's a constant struggle. Don't think it's easier for us, humans, either." she told him on a tender voice.

"But there is more that I need to tell you, please let me finish." he asked her seemingly almost obsessed with getting to the bottom of it.

She chuckled again this time a little wryly "Forgive me. Please go on. I promise I won't interrupt."

"Thank you." he nodded not noticing that he was almost rude. Emma decided to let it go knowing it was not out of malice, and he went on "When I kissed you, it was an extraordinary moment, and with Commander Riker entering, it ended a lot sooner than my emotions wanted it to. When I kissed you on the stage, I believe it was my emotions wishing to elongate that short moment. I swear to you I did not intend to kiss you deeper than what the theatre would have required of us. But it happened. I was wrong in following my emotions in such an inconsiderate manner." he consciously raised his hands in defence "I know that it was wrong of me to do what I did. I know I embarrassed you, maybe even made you feel ashamed. And I apologize for that. I wish I could somehow undo it, however the unidirectional nature of the time-continuum does not allow me to do that. So all I can offer you that I would make it up for you. Any way you wish."

Emma stifled a chuckle putting a hand in front of her mouth at his remark about time. Then looked at him expectantly. For a long moment, they just studied each other's expression, then finally, Data went on:

"Was something I said amusing to you?" he asked reluctantly and a little hurt.

She took her hand away from her mouth and smiled wide-eyed: "Oh, you finished? May I react now?" she asked still seemingly very amused.

"Of course. Oh, I never meant that you..." he started, realizing that he must have again made a faux-pass without realizing it, but he couldn't finish.

Emma simply reached up, took his face into her hands and brought his lips down to hers. She gave him a quick close-mouthed kiss on the lips, and he was so shocked that he didn't even close his eyes. When he had attempted to calculate the possible outcome of this particular interaction, he hadn't even considered receiving a kiss in return for his 'explaining himself', the odds were so insignificant on this reaction that it was statistically irrelevant. After a short moment, she let his lips go and looked into his eyes still holding his face in her palms.

"Am I to infer that you..." he started on a low voice again not being able to resist gazing at her beautiful lips, but she interrupted him with another kiss.

This time it was longer, though still only their lips touched. This time, he closed his eyes feeling her soft body snuggling up to his own, and his arms slipped around her waist. She let him go again after a few moments and gazed into his eyes with a naughty smile.

"You are to infer that I want you to use those exquisite lips of yours for other than speaking." she purred seductively.

"As you wish..." he whispered and closed the distance to her lips again. Her arms clasped around his neck as he held her as close as he could without the possibility of suffocating her, and he kissed her breathtakingly deeply.

In a matter of minutes, they were feverishly kissing in her bed. Uniform top, shoes, socks, slippers left on the way from the living room to the bedroom in a trail of passion. They had no time to take more clothes off before dropping onto her bed. She clasped her legs around his waist as he lay above her. He looked at her for an instant taking in her beautiful smiling face. Her hair was spread around her head, on her pillow, even across her face, and he gently swept the stray strands away before lowering his lips onto hers again. Hunger, he vaguely thought, this must be what it feels like! But why does it grow with every kiss?! Why can it be not appeased?!

She opened her mouth welcoming his explorations and responded with the same enthusiasm. She took her hands away from his hair, slid them down his chest to his waistline and tried to find the fastenings of his trousers. He cupped her cheek tenderly with one hand and started to explore the curves of her body with the other. Before long, he found his way under her sweater and slid his hand up the smooth skin on her stomach and side just to find that as usual, she was not wearing a bra underneath. She moaned in pleasure as he cupped her nude breast in his palm, and he took his lips from her mouth just to start kissing her on the neck.

She half-opened her eyes and stared at her ceiling completely lost in his arms. She couldn't believe the emotions he awakened in her. That after long years of a bitter marriage, after long years of loneliness, here she was allowing herself to feel attraction and affection again, to completely give herself over to the feelings he made her feel for him. For him, who was barely more than a teenager in his emotions. But all the more for him, because he was so innocently incapable to do anything out of malice, he was true in all of his feelings, she never had to doubt his honesty or his good intentions... Her throat suddenly closed, and no matter how much she tried to stop herself, she started to weep silently. She hoped she would stop after a tear as she usually did, never letting herself to show too much weakness to anyone, not even to herself. But this time, she failed to swallow her tears, and they began to flow in earnest.

"...sorry..." she mumbled after a moment on a husky whisper snuggling to his ear "I'm so sorry..." And she meant it. And she meant it for everything! For ruining the moment with crying, for making him feel bad about what he had done on stage - for being a messed up loser who didn't have the strength to resist him anymore.

He raised his head knowing immediately from her voice, and the change in her body that something was wrong, and he was shocked to see that she was crying: "Emma..." he took his hand away from under her sweater and looked at her scared "Did I hurt you in some fashion?" he asked on a small voice.

"Oh..." she smiled through her tears and caressing his face and hair shook her head no.

He took her hand gently: "Do you wish me to leave?"

"No..." she moaned "I'm sorry... just give me a moment." she pulled him to her to hide her face in his shoulder, and he obeyed her unspoken wish and held her close. He rolled them to their side and started to gently stroke her long hair as she lay there cuddled up to him. Her breathing was ragged as she cried almost soundlessly. She held onto him by gripping the fabric of his under-shirt in her fist and felt him kiss her on the forehead comfortingly. As she once again lost herself in his soft caresses, her breathing slowly became even, and she calmed down.

He listened to her breathing and let his senses be filled with her presence just the way they did when they danced tango: the feel of her soft body in his arms, the fragrance of her silky hair, and the sound of her breathing slowing down to a soft snuffle. The grip on his under-shirt slowly loosened, and he knew she had fallen asleep. He raised his head slightly just enough to look at her face. She still head tear streaks on her cheeks, but her face was peaceful.

He considered what he should do next. He most definitely didn't want to wake her, she needed rest probably more than anything. However following this logic, he might become an obstacle for her having a peaceful rest, he concluded that maybe he should get up and leave. But she was cuddled up to him so close that he was worried, if he moved more than a little, she would wake up. So he decided to stay.

He started to study her face now that he had the time and opportunity. Her features were delicate, and her body had a graceful almost fragile quality like a china doll. She seemed at least ten years younger than her chronological age, though he knew she was over six years his senior. Not that his chronological age mattered much in this regard. She seemed so exhausted, and the tear-streaks on her cheeks made her seem wistful.

He wished he could understand why she started crying, but her reactions that evening were nothing but confusing. She seemed to forgive him right away, even though she had seemed upset on the holodeck almost irreconcilably so. And yet, she kissed him so lovingly, so passionately. Then all of a sudden, she broke down crying. I wish I could console you the way you try to console me when I am sad, he thought. Then struck by a sudden idea, he leaned above her close to her cheek to kiss her tears away gently, just as she did to him, when he was crying on the holodeck. It was a unique experience: her tears tasted very salty, still kissing them away was a very intimate sensation.

She stirred, and her eyes slowly fluttered open. He raised his head from her cheek and looked down into her eyes: "I am sorry I awoke you." he started on a low voice "I never meant to. Please continue your nap if you like. I leave, if you wish and let you rest."

She reached up for him and patted his arm as he held her close and lay there above her: "No..." she mumbled sleepily. Then sighed and tried to get a grip on consciousness that seemed to want to slip away blink by blink. She smiled jaded "What a romantic evening, right?" she muttered tiredly "Your date blubbers into your shirt then sacks out on you without a word of explanation. Don't deny it, this was all you ever dreamed about."

"I have to caution you that with you snuggled so close to me, my sexuality programming is active, therefore all of my other thought-processing including the comprehension of irony, sarcasm and humour might be considerably slower than you would expect." he told her ever-serious, and she chuckled stroking his cheek with her hand gently.

"Aah, your dirty talk always turns me on!" she chuckled again at his puzzled expression lovingly "It constantly baffles me that nobody discovered that you're such a sweetheart, Deadpan, and you're still single." she told him shaking her head in wonder then grinned "Are you sure you're not hiding a wife and a few mistresses in the closet?"

He cocked his head, but his expression remained as deadpan as ever "Please rest assured that apart from Spot, you are the only female in my life. I however was hoping that after kissing as passionately as we were and lying atop you in your bed right now, 'single' would not be a term applicable to my status."

She gazed into his eyes for a moment longer - her expression as serious now as his - then pushed him a little away to indicate that she wanted to sit up. He obeyed and sat up with his legs crossed, while she pulled her legs under her sliding close to him opposite him. She took his hands gently in hers and looked into his eyes:

"Is this really what you want, Data? You have no doubts anymore?" she asked on a soft voice.

He squeezed her hands, though he seemed a little lost "I have doubts, Emma. I still think I am not evolved enough for a relationship. I have not yet been able to fully analyse the reasoning you provided me today against these doubts. Although I have found it most intriguing. However, the prospect of not having you in my life is far more appalling than the possibility of a relationship which might involve problems. Problems might be solved. You might be able to tell me, how I am supposed to act. However without you... I feel lonely. And that is not resolvable." he told her seemingly getting to this conclusion only while speaking.

Emma dropped her gaze to their hands and stroked the back of his hands with her thumbs for a few moments. Then looked back into his eyes.

"I agree that problems might be solved, but... I cannot tell you how you are supposed to act, Data." she told him shaking her head "I have been living in a relationship where I was constantly told how I was supposed to act, how to speak, what to eat, how to dress, who to make friends with... I'm not gonna be anything like that, Data, you must not ask that of me." she told him on a silent but firm voice.

"But... you need to help me find my role in a relationship. Because I do not know how to find that role alone." he told her and seemed almost desperate for her to assent.

She gave him a small smile "I can help you in that to some extent. But I cannot prescribe to you what to do. I can tell you my needs, and I expect you can also tell me yours. And... I suppose we might agree that we will need to be honest with each other... if we really want to do this. In everything. Even if it hurts, or if it's uncomfortable. Because lets face it: the divorcing gal hooking up with the virtually teenager guy is not the starting point of a relationship standing much of a chance, Deadpan." she stroked his cheek tenderly to try to take out the edge of her words then took his hand again "Playing around the way your ex-girlfriend did will not fit into this, not even a tiny bit."

He considered her words for a moment then a serene smile appeared on his lips "I can accept your terms. Now I will state mine. Even if our relationship might not stand much statistical chance - although it is noteworthy that not much statistical information is available on relationships between organic and artificial lifeforms - however I would like you to consider our relationship to be something to hold on to. Something that is constant in our lives. From your words, I understand that you think that even the slightest misunderstanding might end it. I disagree. We have managed to reconcile much of our differences so far, and still we have a wish to be with each other. I do not believe that this would change even if we discover any more differences in our opinions or attitudes. I would like you to consider our relationship to be more enduring than you assess it now. Because I do."

Emma chuckled at his optimism and innocence and couldn't resist to take his face into her hands: "Because you are a teenager with the biggest pink cloud of romance around his mind." she told him lovingly then gave him a loud kiss on the lips and looked into his eyes with admiration "And you're amazing. I wish you knew just how much." she traced his moist lips with her thumb thoughtfully as he sat there with that shy expression of his she just adored. She then taking her hands away, smiled at him slowly "So. Are you my boyfriend now, Deadpan? Am I your girlfriend?" she asked trying the expressions out, tasting them in her mind.

She was surprised when he suddenly laughed a happy laugh, then in the next moment taking her off guard, crushed her in an embrace and kissing her on the lips lay her back on the bed. She let him kiss her as deeply as he wanted and held him close to her. But as his hands started to wander around on her body, she broke away and stopped his hand with her own: "Wait, baby." she breathed looking into his eyes.

He then gave her the most childlike innocent smile she had ever seen on anybody's face: "Baby... It is a term of endearment. I do not recall anybody to ever use one upon me."

She combed her fingers through his hair lovingly: "I wasn't really considering what I called you, but I tend to call people other than their christened names, so be prepared for more."

Data chuckled "I believe I have noticed that particular habit of yours. And I definitely like 'Baby' more than 'Deadpan'."

She giggled and looked at him naughtily "Oh, no, you won't get rid of 'Deadpan', Deadpan! No way!"

He cocked his head curiously "I would like to examine just how adamant you are about that standpoint." he told her and lowering his lips to her neck started planting small, tickling kisses there.

Emma shrieked and giggled at the sensation "No fair!" she laughed and felt his fingers brush against the skin on her stomach making her squirm under his featherlike touch. "No fair, Deadpan! Oh..." She giggled on and half-heartedly tried to push him away, but it was just so... "Oh, stop it you..." she pleaded in breath of pleasure, but before she could finish, he did stop. However instead of letting her go, he pressed his lips against hers and kissed her deeply. When he finally released her, she looked at him completely out of breath.

"I bet you are not ticklish!" she gasped frowning in mock-annoyance.

He shook his head "No, I am not."

She sighed to try to even her breathing and looked at him curiously "But you do feel it if I touch you, right?"

"Of course."

She gazed into his eyes thoughtfully "But you do not feel sensations the same way I feel them on my skin, right? You said you cannot feel pain for example."

"You really want to talk about my perception of tactile sensory inputs right at the moment?" he asked seemingly confused and maybe even a bit impatient.

"Do you have a better topic in mind?" she asked surprised.

For an answer, he bowed his head again to her neck and started kissing her again. This time going only for pleasury.

She chuckled and sighed feeling his lips travelling across her skin: "Android or not, you work the same way as all guys. Your mind is only on sex."

He raised his head and looked at her again "Do you not approve?"

She smiled and stroked his cheek "I approve of everything you want." she then raised a forefinger in front of his face, before he could bow down again to kiss her "But some of the things you want will have to wait."

He cocked his head curiously again "Does that mean you do not wish me to make love to you tonight?" he asked and somehow managed to be blunt and incredibly tender at the same time.

She sighed stroking his cheek again lovingly "I wish I could say let's just forget everything and just do whatever our bodies dictate. But... it's just so fast, Deadpan! I feel I'm dizzy by this speed. How long have we known each other? Three weeks?"

"Two weeks, five days and six hours."

She smiled at his precision and sliding her hand from his face to his shoulder, stroked him there gently "The last thing I expected when coming on this ship was that in two weeks' time, I will be in one bed with a guy, and that we will be talking about our future relationship... I barely know you." she admitted on a soft voice "And you know even less about me."

He took her hand from his shoulder and pressed it to his lips for a long moment. Then looked into her eyes and nodded "I understand." he told her on his usual silent voice.

The next moment, he rolled off of her and lay on his back. She was completely taken aback by the sudden change, and the next image that instinctively popped into her mind was him jumping out of the bed and leaving without a backward glance. Her heart sank as she lay there beside him. Could it be that he was disappointed by her turning him down? Well, we've agreed on full disclosure, haven't we? she asked herself, so she gingerly sat up and gazed down at him. He was lying there with his eyes closed - is he gonna just fall asleep?!

"Are you sulking now?" she asked on a slightly hurt voice.

He opened his eyes and looked at her: "Sulking?"

"Because I turned you down."

He seemed to consider this for a moment, then his lips curled upwards a little "I concur with your reasoning. Therefore, I decided to take my sexuality program offline, so I can pay attention to you without it constantly prompting me to ...get underneath your clothes. It is easier to take it offline, if I am not touching you." he explained.

She smiled and wordlessly cuddled up to him burying her face in his chest and holding him by the waist tightly. Why was I doubting you? Am I so distrustful that I have to expect the worst even at a small gesture I don't understand?

He lay there completely baffled "Emma. I just explained to you that it is easier to take the program offline if..."

"Then just leave it on, baby." she mumbled into his shoulder.

So he did and pulled her to him gently. He started to stroke her back and did everything to resist the urge to push his hand under the fabric of her sweater or to slid it to her hips or her butt. It was really peculiar how strong the sensations were that she generated in him. When he first utilized his chip, he had a similar urge for bodily satisfaction as the one he was fighting now. At that time, most female humans awakened it in him, moreover, even being human was not always a prerequisite for his heightened desires to be triggered. But he managed to learn to control these urges. Now they came back with multiplied force - only this time, it was her alone who could trigger them. Perhaps this fact alone was a development, a step of evolution. He was not simply craving for sexual gratification, he was attracted to her and her alone. He turned his head to her and pressed his lips to her forehead. She squeezed her embrace around him for a moment in response.

They lay there in silence for a few minutes, and he went from stroking her back to stroking her hair. The feel of her soft hair under and between his fingers gave him a certain delicately pleasurable sensation, and as Emma seemed not to mind him doing it, he decided that he would engage in the activity often.

Before long, their previous interactions of that day came into his mind. He still wished to understand her completely baffling reactions. He considered asking her about them and hesitated knowing that she was upset, and even cried today which were feelings she probably did not wish to recall. But they agreed on being honest and she did state they barely knew each other. Which he had to agree on. Perhaps if he understood her reactions, next time, he would be able to avoid making her upset.

"Emma... baby..." he tried her term of endearment - and decided he liked it.

"Hmm?" her sleepy voice came muffled from where she rested her head on his chest.

"I need to ask you something."

"You know you may ask anything, you don't need to ask for permission..." she chuckled squeezing her embrace again a little.

"I would like to... to understand your reactions of today." he went on somewhat reluctantly. She didn't answer just nodded wordlessly and waited for him to ask whatever he wanted to know. "You seemed genuinely upset on the holodeck, then you forgave me even before I apologized. And then... you cried..." he added silently then shook his head "I do not mean to upset you again. I just wish I could understand you better."

She sighed as she felt her heart sinking. Exhaustion was creeping up on her as she was listening to his soothing voice and felt his chest slowly rise and fall as he breathed. She didn't feel like talking - especially not about the things he asked.

But he did have a right to understand her capriciousness, so she needed to answer. "I was never angry at you, Deadpan." she told him snuggling her face into his chest "I was just very confused. It scared me that you can have what you want from me, if you decide to take it. Because I would give it to you without a second thought. I was not prepared for that kiss on the stage at all."

"Yet you kissed me back."

"Yeah... Did I mention that I was confused?" she chuckled. She went on after a short pause "Counsellor Troi tells me, I have to try to share my doubts and worries with you, if I really trust you." she gave his body a gentle squeeze again as she took a deep breath to try to be as honest as she could "I'm scared, Data. I feel things... that I haven't felt for a very long time. My marriage... started in a similar way. I was head over heals in love. I gave him everything. Everything he asked for. And the years passed, every day was worse than the one before, but only by a margin you could barely feel. Then one morning, you wake up and you suddenly realize you don't know the person you live with - and you don't know yourself either anymore... After leaving him, I had to hide from him. Even Bev doesn't know much about this time. He was a high ranking official in the government. He had his means to find me... I lived with the Resistance who wanted to liberate the colony for almost two years. It wasn't less of a nightmare than my marriage before... I just wanted to get away and forget everything. And I'm here, letting you hold me. Letting you be so close... And you're..." she trailed off and buried her face into the fabric of his under-shirt. Her eyes became wet, but her tears didn't fall. This time, she was able to stop herself.

"Forgive me that I upset you." he told her on a shaken voice pulling her close. He studied his emotions in wonder: he felt her pain almost as if it was his. Empathy was always one thing he believed he would never completely master. And yet...

"No... It's not your fault." she told him on a muffled voice "I will need to tell you about all this. Because this is part of who I am. You have a right to know."

"You may tell me about it as much or as little as you wish. I will not invade your privacy again, I promise."

She shook her head, and her voice seemed calmer and firmer now: "It's not your fault. And you're not invading my privacy. You may ask me whatever you like. And I promise I will try to answer... If I can't, I will tell you that."

He nodded and stroked her hair again gently. They lay in each other's arms wordlessly. In a few minutes, he again heard her breathing slow and deepen, and he knew she fell asleep. He wished he could join her in her dreams too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Just a thought. In this and some previous chapters as well, most of Data's doubts about relationships are rooting in his experiences with Jenna D'Sora. It's because I once read an article partly about this relationship explaining why it was all wrong. Starting with the fact that Jenna fully misinterpreted Data's caring about her. The article said we should turn the table around to feel how wrong it was: imagine a Vulcan girl is making friends with a human guy. Vulcans with no feelings still can show care about others, and humans may misinterpret that to be romantic interest. Now imagine how it would feel like watching that human guy hitting on the poor, unprepared and probably utterly confused Vulcan girl, imagine the guy giving her a kiss when she least expects it - and you get how wrong it all was from Data's standpoint. The other huge point is: what happens if in a relationship, one of the participants keeps telling what the other should and should not do, and the other keeps obeying? These were thought provoking ideas for me, I hope, for you too :)
> 
> A/N2: Data's reply "As you wish..." is a nod to the movie The Princess Bride where the phrase was used as a euphemism of 'I love you'.


	31. Chapter 31

Emma woke slowly to the sharp sound of the alarm. She moaned reaching out to her side and touched the panel next to her bed to silence the irritating noise. The lights came up, and she blinked confused: where am I... oh, on the ship, right... She gingerly sat up and wiped her eyes then looked down on herself. She was wearing her sweater and not her pyjamas as she usually did, and she was covered with a blanket from the living room. Yesterday...

Data. He was here. It was no dream. He was here, and she fell asleep in his arms. She sighed and felt an emotion she hadn't for a very long time. She was happy. Her mind told her she should fight it. She should stop trusting him, stop feeling those butterflies she always did, when she was with him. But it was just so wonderful to feel that way again.

She got up and strolled out into her living room half-expecting Data to be there. But he wasn't. Watching her sleep probably was not the most exciting activity, of course he left. She frowned spotting something on her couch and stepped up to it. Her uniform she had sloppily hanged on the back of a chair was now neatly folded and placed on the couch. Her socks, also folded with precision, were put on top of her slippers which were placed orderly in front of the couch. She picked up her uniform unfolding it and chuckled. "We will have a bit of a problem, if you're such a neat-freak, Deadpan." she muttered but couldn't help to feel a deep tenderness for his gesture of care.

* * *

"So what's this glowing you've been doing all day?" Bev asked Emma with a suspicious smile as they sat down in Ten Forward to eat their lunch.

"Glowing? I have no idea..." Emma started then an insuppressable grin sold her nonchalance, and she just shrugged "Who am I trying to fool?" she asked giggling.

"What is it?" Beverly asked now impatiently, then as her friend's only response was more giggling, she pressed on "Does your sudden burst of happiness have anything to do with a kiss that you received yesterday from a certain android we both know?"

Emma raised her shoulders again "Not just one kiss, Bev, many kisses!" she giggled again "I feel like the prom queen in high school! If you haven't noticed, everything around us is singing with joy just for me!" she turned her palms up helplessly "Please pour a bucket of cold water on me, because my mouth's aching from grinning like an idiot all day!"

Beverly chuckled and shook her head not really surprised "The air was practically sizzling between the two of you yesterday on stage. I supposed that something might have happened, or would happen sooner or later."

"And you know what, Bev? Nothing serious happened between the two of us! We were just fooling around like two junior cadets behind shelf 556 at the Academy Library!"

Beverly laughed out loud at this then put a hand in front of her mouth "Well..." she cleared her throat "That brings up some awkward memories." They both giggled: shelf 556 at the Academy Library was a common place to hook up at for cadets who didn't have anywhere else to go with their dates. It was hidden at the end of a long room, not many people went there - unless they had business to do there... But sometimes, couples were caught and Beverly could well remember the occasion she was caught in flagranti there with Jack.

"Nobody walked in on us, fortunately." Emma answered and looked away thoughtfully "It's crazy you know. I'm still married. If Ed accidentally learns about this..." she shook her head, and finally that grin disappeared.

"What could he do about it? Come on, don't get depressed just now! You were about to burst with happiness." Bev put a hand on Emma's, where she held her fork beside her plate.

Emma smiled gratefully "Yeah... I can't follow what I'm feeling. You know, Bev, Ed has some very good connections. He has been obstructing our court case from the very beginning. He won't let go of me easily as it is, but if he learns that I'm happy with somebody else..." she seemed genuinely scared now then shrugged "I was thinking of asking Data to lets keep the whole thing a secret, but I don't think he would take that..." she trailed off as she noticed Data coming toward their table with a small smile on his lips.

He stepped to them and without a word leaned over to Emma and gave her a small kiss on the lips. "Hello." he whispered after they broke away.

"Hi, handsome!" she told him and was not able to resist the wide smile that crept back on her lips.

Data straightened and looked over to Beverly "Hello, Doctor." he said then turned back to Emma "I was thinking of taking you out to lunch, but it seems I am late."

Emma nodded "Seems you'll need to do with dinner for today." then she looked at him challengingly "But you'll also need to leave us alone now. So we can gossip about you."

He frowned slightly then cocked his head "I am not able to determine whether you were teasing me or meant what you just said."

Emma smiled "I was teasing you." He nodded in acknowledgement, then she giggled "And I was also serious. You need to go away now, baby."

"May I at least stay in the room?" he asked now bewildered.

She giggled stroking his arm "Sit right there!" she pointed to the bar "But stay there! And don't even look at me!" she told him jabbing a finger at him playfully. He shook his head still confused, but then obeyed and kissed her goodbye.

"See you at the rehearsal." he told her finally with a small, forgiving smile. He was beginning to get used to her eccentricities. As he stepped away, he nodded to Beverly "And you too, Doctor."

They waved to him, and he left to sit down at the bar.

Emma gazed over at him and shook her head "Is he not adorable? I think he's adorable." she looked back at Bev with sparkling eyes "I don't get how any of you people keep yourselves from jumping all over him."

Beverly chuckled now a little uncomfortable "Well, Em, I can't look at him that way, you know, he's... Well, he's Data. I practically watched him grow up on the Enterprise-D. For me, sometimes he's still like a little child."

Emma looked at Bev with a conspiring expression: "I'm telling you Bev, being a child is the one thing I would not characterize him with." Beverly looked at her even more uncomfortable at this - she was really not prepared to think about Data in that way. Emma laughed at her expression "Okay, okay, I admit you're right in some degree. Actually, I keep telling him, he's a teenager." she sighed shrugging "Well, that's that for keeping it a secret." she remarked wryly.

"If you want my opinion, I think it's better that way." Bev told her "I don't think it's a healthy way of starting a new life that you want to keep your relationship a secret, because you're afraid what your ex might or might not do, if he learns about it."

"Yeah..." Emma again gazed at Data sitting there at the counter - Geordi La Forge just came in and joined him with a smile on his face - and her own smile came back "Funny, I try to be worried about this, but..." she looked at Bev "I just don't care!"

"What if that's not a bad thing?" Bev smiled, and as they smiled at each other, she told her on a soft voice "I'm happy for you. For both of you."

"Thanks, Bev. You know a lifetime seems to be too short to repay you, sweetie!"

Beverly chuckled "Don't worry! I'm keeping track of it all."

After some silent eating, Emma looked up from her plate and pointed to Beverly with her fork "And what about you?"

Bev looked at her surprised "What about me?"

"When are you going to finally make the move on that grumpy Frenchman of yours? He won't, don't wait for that! Broccoli might sooner hook up with Sugar!"

"Make the move?! Are you out of your mind? We're friends! Stop making up that there should be anything else between the two of us! And more importantly, stop making it up at places where there're so many people!" she looked around almost in a panic. Why did she always have to come up with this in public places?!

Emma laughed out loud "But that's half of the fun! Come on, Bev! Don't be embarrassed!"

"I'm not embarrassed! I cannot be embarrassed because of YOUR fantasies! It'd be YOUR job to be embarrassed for them! I just don't want gossips to start, that's all!"

Emma looked around "There're barely any people here. Nobody's listening. You might even answer, if we're at it."

"I'm not planning to change any of my friendships into a romantic relationship. I've told you I think like a thousand times. Especially not with Captain Picard."

"Why especially not with Captain Picard?" Emma rolled her eyes impatient at her friends stubbornness.

"Because for one, we could lose a lot more than what we could gain from such a change."

"Yeah, cause gaining a regular sex partner, whom you've been attracted to for a zillion years is not appealing at all..." Emma told her on a disbelieving voice.

Beverly slouched and put her forehead into her palm "Is this the repay you were talking about earlier?" she then gazed at her with a wry smile "Because I'd rather accept a nice vase or a pretty shawl as a token of gratitude."

Emma laughed "But this is exactly how I can repay you! If I can finally convince you about hooking up with your Captain."

Bev propped her chin on her hand and finally smiled at her "What if I told you, we are happy as we are now?"

Emma mirrored her posture and answered without missing a beat "I'd be insulted by your outright lie."

"But it's the truth, Em! Just think about it. In a relationship so many things can go wrong! So many things can lead to stupid misunderstandings. And if that wasn't enough, sex actually just complicates things even more!"

Emma leaned closer and lowered her voice "So what you're trying to tell me is that you're not convinced about the truth of the saying 'short men walk with long sticks'."

Beverly couldn't help herself and laughed out loud with burning cheeks "It's not a saying! You made that up! And Jean-Luc is not short!"

Emma shrugged "It's actually a saying on Epsilon. And a guy IS short, if he can only see the top of his girl's head, if she kneels down in front of him! But the point is..."

"The point is, that I'm not having this conversation!" Beverly told her and tried to seem very preoccupied with her food - cheeks still burning like hell.

Emma rolled her eyes "The point is that you should find out!"

"No, I'm not gonna find out!" Beverly told her a little exasperated, but then she shook her head smiling and a giggle blurted out from her lips "You're just impossible to talk to."

Emma watched her for a few moments as she tried to pay so close attention to her dish that she almost put her nose into it. She then put a gentle hand on her friend's to get her attention. Beverly looked up at her and gazed into her eyes. "Bev. What are you so afraid of?" she asked on a soft, serious voice.

Beverly sighed "I'm... I'm afraid of losing him. On some stupid misunderstanding or on one of the million inhibitions we both have or... on such a stupid thing as sex. If I think of us taking our friendship to another level, I feel I'm dancing on the edge of a precipice."

"Bev, for one, I don't know anyone who can dance better than you! Secondly, you won't fly, if you don't jump off that precipice. You can't live in constant fear of hitting the ground. Sometimes, you have to spread your arms and try to fly." she smiled as she took her hand away "You know, I'm being unfair in lecturing you about flying... I'm full of fears similar to yours, too! But... I have an excellent flight instructor!" she said on a dreamy voice and gazed away to Data "I'm learning a lot from Data. He's not sure of himself either, but still he constantly tries to fly over his own boundaries. Never gives up!"

Beverly nodded returning the smile "He always says, he's programmed to evolve."

Emma looked into her eyes with delight "Then maybe we should reprogram ourselves to evolve too!"


	32. Chapter 32

The last week and a half before the premiere literally flew by. The cast and Beverly were at the holodeck every free minute they had, if not rehearsing then polishing the settings or the costumes. Data and Emma had virtually no time to spend alone, though they enjoyed spending the rehearsals together more than ever before. And they were content to end up in the same bed every night. Not that Emma had energy for more than a few kisses and some chit-chat before fainting to sleep, but Data was happy that she let him stay over at her place for the whole night, and he could watch her sleep. At first, she was reluctant about it saying that he would just get bored, and he was just as reluctant about it, because he didn't want to disturb her rest. Finally, they just laughed at their inhibitions, and she assured him, she was happy to wake up with his arms around her.

Last night was a bit different, because she was the one sleeping over at his place. He wanted her to get acquainted with Spot, but the cat seemed to be sulking about having a female guest at her territory, and had no inclination of getting out from under the bed, no matter how Data tried to persuade her.

Before bed, Emma asked for an under-shirt and a pair of boxers from him to sleep in, which surprised Data, but as she explained that sleeping in a boyfriend's clothes was very intimate, he was more than happy to comply. He was wearing a similar set of clothes, the only difference was that on Emma, his clothes were hanging - in a very attractive, sexy way.

So there they lay in his bed, Emma deeply sleeping and Data holding her from behind, stroking her abdomen through her shirt, and he was enjoying the delightful buzz his sexuality program was creating in his neural net at the sensation. He started to get a grip on how to control the strong urges he was experiencing when touching her, and after a week, he was finally able to lie beside her without having to almost overload his net to occupy his mind with other than desperately wanting to undress her throughout the night.

He wanted to give her the time she needed until she was ready to take the last step to be his girlfriend fully. Though he was not sure what she was waiting for, researching the subject, he found, that often female (and also male) humans required a certain amount of time before consummating their relationships. He found it was mostly, because they hoped with the passage of time, the depth of the relationship would grow, and their partners would more likely form a bond with them and less likely leave them after simply having sex with them.

He was appalled by this notion. He never thought he would start a relationship just to finish it after a single night of love. The one thing he wanted above all else was forming a bond, a link, any kind of attachment to his mate. He never had a chance to do that with any of the women he had ever dealt with, and now he was eager to finally experience what he had missed. Whether it was in the foundation of his programming or it was his own curiosity, he didn't know, he just knew that that was the most important thing for him right now. Making love was not a goal in this, it was just a means to achieve that.

He raised his hand and wiped the hair away from Emma's shoulder and neck. She had wished to be waken up at 0500 AM so that was what he was about to do. Wake her up. He lowered his lips to the nape of her neck and slowly kissed his way up on her skin until he reached her ear. There he stopped and circled her ear with the tip of his nose - he knew she liked that a lot. She moaned and stirred but then just buried her face into his pillow almost completely turning on her stomach. He smiled at the challenge. She was difficult to wake up - though with the alarm, she was on her feet in a minute, he wished to pursue more subtle ways in starting her mornings.

He went on kissing her behind her ear then back down on her neck, while he slid his hand under the loose shirt on her. He drew lazy circles on her soft stomach ever going upward, then gently cupped a breast in his hand. He was rewarded with another soft moan then some sleepy mumbling came "You're a very naughty boy, you know that, hmmm... ah..." she gasped as she felt him gently fondling her breast. She turned back to him as he raised his head from her neck and slid his hand out of her shirt to hold her by the waist. "Come here, handsome!" she purred and pulled him in for a deep kiss. In the last week, she had been calling him 'handsome' and 'deadpan' in turns, and he was trying to search for a pattern for it, but failed to find one yet.

He complied and kissed her on the lips sliding his hand down to her thigh. She bent her knee almost obediently at his touch - he again wondered how she could so precisely know what his intentions were - and let him lay between her legs. As she felt him through their thin shorts, and their kisses deepened, her hands came up into fists in his hair. "Mmmmph..." she grunted as he rolled his hips against hers pressing her down on the bed. It was such an intense sensation that her eyes flew open, and she broke away from his lips gasping. He was looking at her dishevelled and a little confused but more than anything hungry for more. And it was just impossible to resist that look! She slid her hands down his sides and tugged at his shirt "Get this off! Quick!" she whispered.

"Are you sure?" he blurted, but she just kissed him on the lips again then looked at him determined.

"No arguments, Deadpan, just do as I said! If I had to kill somebody to have you take me, I swear I would do it! Now!" she pulled him in for another kiss. He responded eagerly and found that what she had said increased his arousal to an unexpected height in a surprisingly short time.

He broke away and sighed making her feel his breath on her wet lips. She instinctively opened her mouth, but he didn't kiss her. "You want me to take you?" he asked on a low voice - and she got the impression that this time, it was not her who did the teasing.

"Yes!" it was a breathless sigh.

He ground his arousal against hers "I will do whatever you ask of me." she whimpered helplessly and squirmed her hips underneath his "I will take you!" he went on, and she suddenly felt his long fingers between the two of them - he was amazed how wet her underwear was in such a short time. "Ah, please!" she begged pressing herself hard onto his curious fingers - but he pulled away "Slowly, baby!" he whispered then gently touched her arousal through the fabric of her boxers again. This time, she resisted the urge to again push herself into his hand and just held onto his arms, her nails sinking into his skin. "I will take you slowly." he went on stroking her with a feather-like touch "And very gently." she gazed into his eyes helpless under his hand "And I will not stop until the only thought remaining in your head is us together."

"Ah, god!" a moan escaped her lips, she wasn't able to hold it in any longer.

The next moment he took his hand away and sat back on his heals. She gazed at him breathless and begging for more. He then pulled his shirt over his head, and before he could start folding it neatly, she sat up too and taking the garment away from his hand, threw it away. There he knelt between her legs just inches away from being inside of her, and he decided that now was as good a time as any to give all control over to his sexuality programming. He crushed her in an embrace pulling her up to him into his lap, their hips brushed again, drawing soft moans out of both of them as their arousals touched. Holding her firmly to him, he kissed her deeply, pushing into her mouth, mimicking with his tongue what he wanted so desperately their bodies to do. Her legs circled his waist, and she put her arms around his neck and shoulder - her palms were damp against his bare skin. When they came up for air again, he took the lower part of her shirt in his hands "Hands up, Ms. Jones!" he commanded, and she giggled breathlessly as she obeyed. He took her shirt off in one motion and discarded it the way she had done with his shirt.

He gazed down at her breasts, and she couldn't resist the smile creeping on her lips seeing his mesmerized expression "You like them?" she asked a little shy despite herself.

He looked into her eyes and gave her a lopsided smile of wonder "Always have."

They chuckled, and she lowered her face to his holding him close and kissed him on the lips first gently, then as they got a feel of each other's nude body, she kissed him deeply, sensually. He then lay her down underneath him and started to kiss his way from her mouth over her neck to her breasts.

He was just kissing her collarbone, when they felt a slight tremor go through the bed under them, and they heard a very unsettling hissing coming from their side. He took his lips away from her skin startled and turning their heads toward the sound, their surprised gaze met Spot's disapproving one burning against the dim light.

"Should I start to get scared?" Emma asked suddenly tensed up at the demonic apparition the cat seemed with her glowing eyes.

"Spot. Be a good cat, and give us some privacy, please." Data told his cat but knew right away that it would be useless. "Do not think that your presence on the bed will be of any nuisance." he warned Spot and was about to kiss Emma again, but the cat's hissing became worse, and at the same time, Emma stopped him with a finger on his mouth.

"Do not think that I'm gonna have sex in one bed with your cat." she told Data who gazed away frustrated.

Spot, as if in response to what she had just heard, started to knead on the bedclothes to make herself more comfortable before taking a nap. "Spot!" Data called out frowning now irritated.

"Leave her be, baby." Emma told him, and he gazed at her wide-eyed, almost in despair:

"Emma!"

She stroked his cheek lovingly "I would be late anyways, and today's gonna be hectic enough without us making love for the first time, before it even starts."

Data hung his head with a heart-broken expression which made Emma's own heart skip a beat. But then as he processed what he had just head, his despair turned to amazement, and he cocked his head looking into her eyes "You said making love instead of having sex." She was quite disillusioned about the term, and was eager to let him know about that every time he used it.

She smiled and traced his lips with her fingers "Maybe with you, I will reinvent what it means." she whispered. He smiled back in wonder and closed the distance to kiss her. She didn't protest just held him close.

They were kissing feverishly again in a couple of minutes - being late, hectic day and napping Spot forgotten. This time, it was the door chime that interrupted them, and Data hit the bedclothes in frustration "Shit!" he breathed. Then he took a few deep breaths (in which time, she knew he was making a conscious effort of dismissing the physical signs of his arousal), before he got up from above her.

Emma quietly giggled at the profanity he had used "I have to warn you, Commander, that your words are unbecoming of a Starfleet officer." As he stopped in the motion of putting on his trousers to give her a look, she bit her lower lip still grinning "Just sayin'!" she chuckled.

The door chime sounded again, and Data called out "One moment, please. Computer, lights please!" the room was bathed in light, and Emma had to hide her eyes behind her palms it was so bright. When her eyes finally got used to it, and she looked at him, she found him standing there petrified staring at her naked body covered by the blanket only from waistline down. She giggled at his expression and sat up pulling the bedclothes from her body even lower, exposing more of her skin. He closed his eyes and shook his head to get a grip then looked at Emma almost irritated "Are you going to dress up?"

She laughed: "Well, watching from your warm bed that you're sulking so frustrated is a lot more fun, but if you're so adamant about me hiding my boobies, that's what I'm gonna do." she babbled and was even more amused that he was not at all amused.

She got up and quickly got dressed. She was buttoning her uniform top at the neck, when Data called "Enter!", and Beverly stepped in with tricorder in hand to check on Spot as usual.

"Hi!" she smiled at Data, but as she stepped in, she noticed that he hadn't been alone, and she blushed deeply understanding why it took so long to open the door "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"Never mind, Bev!" Emma stepped up to them smiling. She swept her long hair behind her shoulder and combed through it with her fingers a little to tidy her dishevelled strands "You actually saved me from being late! I need to go back to my quarters anyway before work." she then smiled cheerfully up at Data "Bye, baby!" she reached up and bringing his face down to hers gave him a quick kiss "See you at the holodeck! Try to quit sulking till then!" Data just looked at her with the same sullen expression as before.

"See you too, Bev!"

"Don't be late!" Beverly called after her, but she was already gone on the corridor. She then looked into Data's eyes with an apologetic smile "Sorry again!" she winced.

Data looked back at her, and his expression softened "I am sorry. It seems I have forgotten my manners. No offence meant."

"None taken, Data. I've been in love in my life before. I know it can make you act out of character." she smiled kindly.

He gazed at her innocently "We are not in love, Doctor. We are having an infatuation. A crush." he explained.

Beverly chuckled "And you can tell the two feelings apart so easily?" she asked surprised.

"I cannot. Emma can. She thinks that our relationship is not evolved enough to call the feeling that binds us together 'love'."

Beverly smiled a knowing smile "And what do YOU think, Data?"

"She is the one more experienced. I believe she is right." he told her a little unsure.

She patted his arm gently, and he gazed at the touch surprised as usual "Data, you need to think for yourself. I know that she's the one more experienced, but I know that she's also an awfully strong personality. Let yourself decide how you feel. Emma just needs to accept it."

She let him go, and he stood there thoughtfully for a moment longer "I am however, not sure about how I feel. My emotion-chip is generating so many different emotions and sensations when I am with her that I am still in the process of analysing every one of them. It is a somewhat confusing state of mind."

"I see. Sorry I interfered." Beverly said apologetically.

Data cocked his head, and his lips suddenly curled upwards a little as he imitated her previous gesture and touched her arm "Not at all, Doctor Crusher. Your opinion is valued. Thank you!"

She put her hand on his, where he held her by the arm "You know you can come to me, if you need advice. With Emma, sooner or later you WILL need some."

Data looked a little confused at the remark then let it go. They went to the sleeping area, so Beverly could check on Spot who was still sleeping entangled in the bedclothes on the bed.

"I apologize for the disorder, Doctor." he said quickly embarrassed, because he had no time to do the bed.

"It's alright." she waved his concern away holding the tricorder above Spot. Then when she was finished, she straightened and looked at him with a proud smile "Well, Data, very well done! Spot is in excellent shape! All her values are now within healthy parameters, and though her weight still leaves something to be desired, it's a lot better than it used to be a month ago, when she started the diet."

Data leaned down and stroked his sleeping cat lovingly "Thank you, Doctor!" he said silently.

Beverly started for the door, and he went after her: "Having any butterflies already?" she asked curiously.

"Butterflies? Oh! You mean stage fright because of tonight's premiere." Data comprehended aloud as they stopped at his door and looked at each other "No, Doctor. I have already participated in a play, I know what it involves." he replied almost nonchalantly.

"You're practised, I know. Well, see you in the afternoon on the dress rehearsal. And then we'll harvest what our efforts yield tonight. For good or ill as the Captain phrased it, when I was talking to him about our play."

"Is he going to come to watch it?"

"Yes, of course. He said he wouldn't miss it for anything." Beverly smiled happily then said goodbye and left him alone. Data couldn't help but start to feel those butterflies at this thought.


	33. Chapter 33

Three hours later, Data was sitting at Counsellor Troi's office for his session. She eased up on the daily schedule a week ago, now he had to see her three times a week, and he attended meticulously without being late even a minute. Deanna poured some tea for him as it had become their custom to tea together during the sessions.

"How are you feeling today?" she asked handing him his cup.

"Thank you, Counsellor." he told her as he took the cup and nursed it in his hand "I feel fine, thank you."

She chuckled "Data, you always start all of your sessions like that. You're not supposed to give this polite but meaningless reply to this question here, you're supposed to tell me how you actually feel."

He gazed at his tea thoughtfully "It is very difficult to share how I feel exactly, because I feel a lot of things at the same time."

She scowled a little curiously "You mean your emotions do multi-tasking just as your thoughts?"

He nodded "In essence, yes, Counsellor."

She crossed her legs and sipped her tea. After a moment, she looked at him again "Then tell me about the emotion that's the strongest."

He looked at her delighted "That is easy to choose, Counsellor. The strongest emotion I feel is the crush I feel for Emma." and this started him off.

Deanna smiled serenely as she listened to him speaking about how excited he was about his relationship. For the last week, the depressing stories about the Borg Queen and his abduction were replaced by cheerful stories of his girlfriend. The change was so abrupt and striking that she knew that they needed to talk about it.

"...Doctor Crusher then told me I would have to ask for advice about Emma in the future. Though I was grateful for her offer, I am not sure why she said that. I got the feeling she was implying to Emma being a difficult personality, which might be true to those who do not know her, however..."

"Do YOU know her, Data?" she cut in trying to get a grasp on his flood of words.

He looked at her surprised "I believe I do. At least better than most others."

"Even Doctor Crusher?" she asked with a small smile.

He decided to take some time to answer this question, and he sipped his tea. Then cocked his head and looked at her with some resentment "Would you like to imply that I am wrong?"

She put her cup down on the table and clasped her hands "Data. I'm not implying anything. I'd like you to consider that you have known Emma for a shorter time than Beverly does, and that probably your opinion about her is biased." Data sat there as if he had to calculate the equation of the universe, so Deanna went on "What you're experiencing right now is natural. When we are having a crush, all our thoughts are about that special someone, and we may even consider him or her the most perfect person. But just try to think a bit rationally for a moment." she secretly took a moment to feel amazed: Data needs to be told to be rational, that's undoubtedly the biggest turn in a person's character she's ever witnessed.

"I am thinking rationally, Counsellor." he said on a silent voice "I always do. However, it is an exciting change that sometimes I can let go of rationality, if it is about Emma. The sheer amount of resources my system requires for thought-processes about her is most intriguing."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about. Two weeks ago, you were still having trouble with flashbacks of what happened to you during the Borg invasion. You said the same thing: your resources were occupied by your memories about it. And now you talk about nothing but Emma."

"Is that not a progress, Counsellor? For the last week, I have had no flashbacks, and for the last three days my abduction barely crossed my mind. If it did, it passed by quickly. I was hoping that is a sign of healing." he said and disappointment was palpable from his voice.

"It is, Data. But if you've just replaced your painful thoughts with happy ones, it's not healing. It's just diverting your attention and stifling the unpleasant memories. And once these strong feelings of excitement calm down even just a little bit, those troubling memories will come back to haunt you." she explained her main concern that'd been troubling her for the last week.

Data bowed his head then mirroring her actions, put his cup on the small coffee table. He straightened and looked into her eyes "I understand. I do not doubt the truth in your words, Counsellor. However, I feel I have managed to reclaim most of my life before my abduction. I am reacquainted with my friends, I returned to some of my hobbies, and I stopped having flashbacks. And this is not solely because of my relationship to Emma. Although the emotions I feel for her contributed to it largely."

Deanna gazed into his eyes for a moment longer and instinctively reached out with her mind to feel whatever he was feeling. When she felt the usual emptiness, as if he wasn't even there with her in the room, she once again wished she could somehow find a way to use her abilities on him. Just this once. She sighed "I know, Data." she gave him a small smile to soften the suddenly tense mood "I actually wanted to tell you that you progressed so rapidly that I think you're ready to return to duty. My greatest concern about your condition was your hallucinations and strong flashbacks, and you haven't experienced any for a week. However, that doesn't mean that you are fully healthy. As I've told you, I have my reservations about such a rapid progress as you displayed in the last weeks. It may be because of the nature of your mind so different from the human mind which wouldn't be able to heal in such a short time. However, there's no method to make sure about that. Therefore, I want to go on seeing you three times a week just as we have been doing so far. And you must not take up more than one shift a day. I want you to take it easy for a while."

"Yes, Counsellor." Data just sat there gaping. He didn't expect to hear that he could go back to work!

"I also need you to promise to tell me immediately if there's a change in your condition. Let it be flashbacks returning for any reason or memories stirred up by any kind of stimuli." she smiled apologetically "I cannot check your emotional state the way I usually do with others. Therefore I need to ask you, and I want you to be as honest as you were, when you came to me and told me about your issues three weeks ago. Do you feel fit for duty?"

Data's answer was a small smile of wonder.


	34. Chapter 34

Emma after her shift went straight to the holodeck. Data and Sonya were standing on the stage speaking and smiling, but just as they noticed Emma, their expressions changed. Data looked at her with devotion, Sonya with contempt. They said hello, and Sonya walked back to the table where they usually sat with Reg in the breaks.

Emma smiled at Data as he immediately took her hand. In the last week, she noticed that he gradually became a bit more daring in touching her after getting some encouragement that his touch was welcome.

"Where's Broccoli?" she asked looking around curious.

Instead of Data, Sonya answered "Lieutenant Barclay is at Engineering. He had some more work to do." she emphasized his name as much as she could and looked daggers at Emma for teasing him even behind his back.

"Okay..." Emma told her and looking back at Data rolled her eyes.

Data smiled at her almost challengingly "If you used the proper name of everybody, you could avoid having to roll your eyes so many times." he said as if he was explaining how to use a tricorder. Some of the social interactions that were basic for him, did actually seem to need some explanation for Emma.

She looked at him with a mock-frown "Was this an attempt at sarcasm, Deadpan? Because if so, it was a fairly good one!" she added chuckling.

He gave her a small smile, and she could swear he seemed a little smug "I have an excellent teacher." he remarked. Then his expression quickly changed to his usual deadpan "Where is Doctor Crusher?" They were all to meet at 1400, and it was already 1412.

"She had to stay at sickbay. Apparently, some baby decided he needs to be born today and not a day later." she grimaced then shrugged "She'll come as soon as she can."

After a moment of hesitation, Data looked at her and Sonya as well "Should we not try to use the time to-" he started, but his combadge went off.

"Picard to Data." they heard.

Data pressed his badge with a slightly surprised expression "Data here."

"Could you see me in my ready room, Commander?" the Captain's comvoice came through.

"On my way, Sir!" Data answered then closing the channel, he was about to turn to the door, but Emma frowned up at him.

"What could he want?" she wondered.

He shrugged and looked at her with a small smile "I hope he would be returning me to duty."

"Wha?" she gaped "And why would he do that all of a sudden?" she looked at him taken aback wide-eyed.

"Because according to Counsellor Troi, I am ready to return to work."

Emma gaped at him smiling a wide, happy smile "And you're not saying anything?!" she reached up and kissed him firmly on the lips. He just blinked surprised. When she let him go, he stood there dumbfounded. She giggled at his expression and forcefully turned him around toward the door (and he let her) "What are you standing here for? Go, Deadpan! Go!" she gave him a push laughing. He obeyed and gazing back from the doorway, he shook his head chuckling then stepped out into the corridor.

As the door closed, Emma realized that she remained alone with Sonya, and her heart sank. She didn't feel like enduring her resentful glances but had no inclination to make peace. Should she just leave? That would be cowardly... She turned back toward the stage and sighed. Bev and Data both wanted her to finally make peace with Sonya, and both of them assured her that the young woman was a nice person - if she was talking to anybody else but her.

She gave in and strode up to the table Sonya was sitting at. She stood in front of her for a moment, waiting for Sonya to finally acknowledge her presence, then turned a chair around and sat down on it. With the back of the chair against the table, she put her forearms on it and tried to catch the other woman's gaze.

"So, Sugar. It seems that it's only the two of us." she told her challengingly.

But Sonya simply stood up at the next moment "I guess I'll come back when everybody else is here too." she turned, but Emma called after her.

"Sonya, stop!" she said on a hard voice, and the young woman did stop in the motion but did not turn back to her "Please, sit down. I don't usually try to straighten my relationships, if no sex is involved as a payoff, so I'd appreciate it, if you appreciated it."

Sonya was embarrassed by Emma's bluntness, which she utterly hated in the older woman from the very beginning. But she slowly turned back and sat down. She gazed at her patronizingly "I don't care about your apology, cause you've hurt so many people so many times that there's no apology enough to make that right." she declared stubbornly.

A small smirk appeared on Emma's lips "Good. I'm horrible at apologizing, so I had no intention to do that."

Sonya snorted shaking her head with a resentment she had never felt for anybody before "Then what do you want?"

Emma grimaced uncomfortably "To tell you that I never meant to hurt you." Sonya looked at her with suspicion in her eyes, and Emma went on "I was a jerk with you, but it wasn't because I don't think that you're a good actress. You're quite okay, you also have a nice singing voice, and you were right that keeping up with Data is a HUGE challenge."

Sonya still eyed her with suspicion "Then what was it about?"

Emma clasped her fingers on the table in front of her and shrugged "Well, if we are speaking so frankly, here you go, Sugar. You and Broccoli were acting like too mindless teens every time anybody dared touch either of you. And it was ruining the play. When I danced with him, you were literally spitting jealousy all over the stage, and it was plain that you just couldn't concentrate because of that. He on the other hand was so embarrassed and worried what you might be thinking if he had to take my hand that he was not able to concentrate either. I told him to have some balls and hook up with you already-" she couldn't finish.

Sonya sprang to her feet outraged "How dare you?!" she shouted "How dare you interfere with our business?! With our emotions? Who gave you the right?!" and her voice broke. Emma was surprised but tried to conceal it and let the other woman get a grip before answering. Sonya glared into her eyes, and instead of calming down, she went on a rampage "You're the most horrible, most ill-willed person I've ever known! You hurt everybody around you. You have no respect for anyone! Or anything! How can Commander Data tolerate being with you more than it is absolutely necessary is beyond me!"

Emma just gazed into her eyes with her usual smug expression then shrugged "He certainly has his stimulus-threshold very high up." she remarked dryly.

"You don't deserve him! You don't deserve the friendship of Doctor Crusher either! You don't deserve to be surrounded with people at all!" she swirled around and started for the door.

Emma sprang to her feet "And that's because I was the only freaking person who cared enough to do SOMETHING, while all the others, people you call friends, just stood by and probably had a very good time watching the two of you keep screwing AROUND each other instead of doing it WITH each other!" her voice was harsh and almost cruel. It made Sonya stop at the door. Emma walked up to her and stood a few steps behind her "For how long, Sugar? Weeks? Certainly, I've witnessed that much. Months? Possibly. Or even years, Sonya?"

Sonya's tears began to flow, and she quickly wiped them away, but they just kept coming. Suddenly, she felt Emma's hands on her arms and let herself be turned around. "I suppose you're happy now..." she moaned desperately trying to get a grip.

Emma rolled her eyes "Sure, that's what I do for a hobby. Make gals in love cry a river... My-my! Let's stop this!" she told her softly and reached up to Sonya's face, and to the younger woman's utter shock, gently wiped her tears away with her thumb. She waited until Sonya was ready to listen to her again "Broccoli is a hard nut." she went on "No matter how contradictory that may sound..." she added grimacing at the pun. Sonya was not amused, just gazed away with a sullen expression. Emma eyed her for a moment longer then asked the one question that was on her mind from day one "Must you be with HIM? I mean, darling, you ARE an eye-catcher! And he's just such an..." 'annoying prick' she wanted to finish, but Sonya cut in.

"He is kind and sweet! He is a gentleman! So polite and so nice! And he is just so incredibly smart! You don't know him the way I do! He is always there! Whenever I need him, whatever I want! He would be there and would try anything to fulfill my wishes!"

"Except if your wish is to finally get laid by him." Emma taunted with a wry smile. She didn't even want to picture the possible performance such a guy could give in bed... Sonya again glared at her completely shocked, even mortified, and Emma held her hands up "Alright, I take it back! I meant to say, he's not open to the obvious. Better?"

Sonya gazed away uncomfortably. Yes, it was true. But she would never be able to use such words. Her look made Emma revise her earlier thoughts: if Broccoli was not able to perform in bed, no one would even notice given that Sonya was sharing most of his inhibitions. But they were here, talking about the one topic, Emma would bet Spot's fur on that Sonya had never spoken to anyone. So she kinda felt obliged to help. "Look." she started again "I suggest a direct approach. Waiting for him to make the move is like waiting for Godot. Never gonna happen. Trust me on this!"

Sonya shook her head "You're talking as if you were sure about his feelings!"

"Are you not?!" Emma gaped.

"How could I be?!" Sonya asked back bewildered. Then spread her arms frustrated "I tried everything. I gave him the signs, I invited him over for dinner. I even cooked for him his favourite dish! I wore the prettiest outfit that the replicator could produce. I tried to give him the opportunity to... And I did those things many times! He always left my quarters with us still only friends. I really can't think of anything else to do. Because he..." she slightly shook her head and raised her shoulders.

"Are you sure he's straight?" Emma butted in squinting in suspicion.

Sonya gave her another mortified look but strangely enough actually answered "Yes. He told me about a girlfriend he had at the Academy." she said almost on a whisper.

"Okay, I see... Well... You did your job, and he pretended he's deaf and blind. Listen, such guys need to be conquered. You can't wait for him to make the move, because he has too many inhibitions. When I was talking about the two of you to him, he was practically petrified for long minutes only by hearing that you actually would want anything from him. He doesn't even consider that as an option, he thinks he misunderstands all the signs a regular guy would otherwise take as a bang on the head with a baseball bat. If you really want him, you need to go up to him, and simply kiss him. That's that."

"What?!"

"He wouldn't have a chance to misunderstand THAT." Emma shrugged.

"But that's just..." Sonya winced, her face now completely red.

"Why not? He is at Engineering, right?" Emma asked and taking her by the arm pulled her towards the door "We go there, you do it, and the rest is history."

"No!" Sonya pulled away.

"Don't be such a chicken! It's not that you should do a strip-tease, it's just a peck, come on!"

"No!" Sonya declared stubbornly "Even you wouldn't do that, if you were in my shoes, so no! I'm not humiliating myself like that!"

Emma threw her hands up "Of course I would do it! Okay, not with Barclay!" she said his name correctly this time because of a slip of the tongue. "But with Data, certainly." she shrugged.

"You are already a couple. What would be such a big deal about THAT?"

Emma rolled her eyes impatiently to get to the bottom of this "Okay, Sugar! Then it's your call! Tell me what you think I wouldn't dare to do. If I do it, you go up to Broccoli and smooch with him at Engineering! Deal?" she asked holding out her hand.

Sonya frowned surprised. Emma seemed so smugly sure of herself that she was ready to make the bet BEFORE knowing what she would have to do. The younger woman looked at her frowning for a moment then grabbed her hand and shook it "You know what? Deal!"

Emma let her hand go and motioned for her to go on "So what's it gonna be?"

Sonya showed her the first smile - well, ever since they have known each other, though it was rather a smirk "You go up to the Bridge, and you kiss Data with the Captain watching!"

A laugh blurted out of Emma's mouth "That's IT? And you call this a challenge? Now, come on, Sugar!" she waved and started for the door.

Sonya stopped her "Have you EVER met Captain Picard?!"

Emma shrugged "Bev likes him. Whatever could be wrong there?"

Sonya looked at her now gaping "He is the most intimidating person on this very ship! I would say that in the whole quadrant."

"Pff... Come on, I grew up with an Admiral as my old man. Do you think I get goosebumps from some Captain?"

Sonya stopped her by the arm with a desperate expression "Emma, wait. I take it back. And not because I doubt that you would do it. But if you do this, you could get into trouble."

Emma laughed out loud "So what do you care? You officially hate me!" she taunted then looked at her challengingly "Does that mean that you'd do as I told you?"

"No! I gave you this challenge BECAUSE I don't want to do as you told me!"

Emma frowned now irritated "Oh, yeah, you WILL do it! Now get moving, Sugar!" she pushed her out of the door to a turbolift.

"Emma, no! Stop it! I'm not!" Sonya pleaded in a panic and was utterly shocked, when Emma called for the Bridge instead of Engineering. They made a deal. Emma was keeping herself to it. She swallowed in fear: she should never have started to talk to this lunatic in the first place!

When they got to the Bridge, Will Riker stood up from the Captain's chair and gave them a kind smile "Ladies, is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, you can't." Emma shook her head "I need Data and the Captain. In the same room preferably."

"Oh, they're in the ready room, but I suppose it'd be better if you waited for them."

"Sure!" Emma turned to Sonya with a small smile "That's what we're gonna do!"


	35. Chapter 35

"Reporting as ordered, Captain." Data said as he stepped up to Picard, where the elder man stood in his ready room.

"Thank you, Mr. Data." the Captain said and motioned for him to sit down on the couch.

Data obeyed, and the Captain sat next to him with a seemingly uncomfortable expression, which the younger man didn't understand.

The Captain looked at him with a tight smile "How are you, Data?"

"Fine, Sir. Thank you." he answered on his usual silent voice.

The elder man nodded "Grand." and gazed away thoughtfully.

After a long, uncomfortable minute of silence, Data decided to take the initiative "Captain. Was there something specific you wanted to see me about?"

The older man turned to him absently and smiled embarrassed "Yes, Mr. Data. Of course there is." he stood up and went to stand with his back to his wide desk - he seemed somehow uneasy to Data. He finally looked into his eyes "I got Counsellor Troi's report on your condition. I was very glad to hear that you've almost fully recovered."

"Yes, Sir." Data nodded still waiting for the Captain to finally get to the point. What was he hesitating about? Did he have doubts about Counsellor Troi's report? Or did he have doubts about him?

The Captain eyed him cautiously: "And how are you feeling?"

Data gave him a small, embarrassed smile "You just asked me, Captain. I feel fine."

"Oh, yes, of course..."

"Captain. If you have doubts about me returning to duty, I can assure you that-"

But the Captain cut in raising his hand "No, no! I don't have doubts, Data. I just..." he shrugged then went back to the couch and sat next to him "Let me speak candidly..." he sighed uncomfortably gazing away "You and I share a very similar experience. And I know about myself that it does haunt me from time to time. This is why I'm asking you: are you sure, you're feeling alright?" he finally looked into Data's eyes "Are you sure you're fit for duty?"

"Captain, I..." Data shook his head unsure how to convince him "In all honesty, I feel fine. My abduction, and my ...connection to the Queen did not leave me unchanged, that is true. I do know I can never be the same person I used to be before I was abducted. I still think about it and about her and about... how she died. Sometimes I feel... a little part of me was lost there in Engineering. However, my memories do not control my life anymore."

Picard nodded, and this time, he fully believed what he heard. He felt exactly the same way, when he finally managed to overcome the after-effect of his own abduction: free of the immediate symptoms but forever changed. After another long minute, he looked at Data with regret in his eyes.

"I owe you an apology, Data." he told him on a low voice.

The younger man just looked at him confused "An apology for what, Captain?"

"I should have gone to you while you were off duty. I should've talked to you, somehow help you through..."

"Oh, I can assure you Captain, I do not hold any grudge about that against you. I know how precious your time is. Please do not feel remorse over it."

"No, Data, I could have found the time. I just... I just couldn't find the courage." he admitted, and Data gazed at him stunned. The Captain went on "Seeing you being so depressed, so isolated because of your abduction, seeing you being dragged deeper and deeper into that dark pit I myself know so precisely... it made me feel... scared, Data." he confessed finally "I didn't want to be reminded of what I went through. I wanted to be as far from it as it's possible. I especially didn't want to talk about it at all. If I went to you... I knew I would have had to talk about my own experiences. And I couldn't find the courage. That's the truth." he gazed away and shrugged slightly "Oddly enough, I find it easy to talk about it now to you. You made me realize you're the only person who can understand it fully." he added silently.

Data waited until the Captain finally looked into his eyes, and he smiled a small, timid smile "I understand, Sir. You need not to explain yourself. Talking about my issues have definitely been the most difficult thing I have had to do ever since I have my emotion-chip. I also wish I could leave all of my experiences behind and return to my life."

The Captain nodded and finally smiled at his friend "I can help you with that. Mr. Data, from tomorrow onwards, you're returned to duty."

They stood up smiling and shook hands firmly.

* * *

Just as Data and the Captain stepped out of the ready room, they found themselves face to face with Emma, who, without any further ado, simply threw her arms around Data's neck and gave him a long close-mouthed kiss on the lips. He was so completely unprepared for it, that he just stood there petrified, blinking like a carp in a shopping-bag. Strangely enough, the Bridge remained silent too - nobody knew how to react to the scene with the Captain around!

She let Data go, gave him a small smile then without even a glance at the Captain's face, leapt to Sonya and took her by the arm: "Your turn, Sugar! No chickening out now!" she told her and pulled her up to the nearest turbolift.

"Lieutenant, for a moment, if you would!" they heard the Captain, and Emma stopped only because Sonya forcefully grabbed her by the arm and turned her back to Picard.

Emma obeyed and looked questioningly at the elder man "Me?" she asked pointing to her chest with a finger - and that was the point, where Will Riker put his forehead into his palm to cover his grin, and all the others in the Bridge crew were starting to look as busy as they could for similar reasons.

"Yes, Lieutenant, you." Picard answered, and Data knew that when his voice was so forcefully calm, it never meant anything good. He looked from the Captain to Emma and back, gaping and wide-eyed, and put all his processors to work to think of something to say - but somehow his babbly nature cheated on him just at the worst of all moments!

To add insult to injury, Emma looked at Sonya instead of obeying her Captain right away: "If you don't do as I said, I'll hunt you down! And the whole ship's gonna know everything we were talking about! Understood?!" she asked peremptorily, then her expression softened as she smiled and gave Sonya's arm a gentle squeeze "Show some balls, if he can't find his! Go!" and letting the stunned woman go, she jogged back to, where Data and the Captain were standing.

"Would you care to join me in my ready room." the elder man asked.

"Captain!" Data blurted now bewildered - his voice had an alarmed, almost agitated undertone, and Emma suddenly found herself grateful for his apparent concern.

"That'd be all Mr. Data." the Captain nodded to him and disappeared inside, with Emma in toe. The younger man could do nothing but stare at the door closing after them.

"Do you have any idea what this was about?" Will stepped up to him questioningly.

"I wish I did, Commander!"

They both looked over to Sonya, who realized that any place was better than where she had to explain this utterly embarrassing situation, so she hopped into the turbolift conveniently arriving just at that moment.

* * *

"Thank you for taking your precious time to finally obey the order of your Captain, Lieutenant." Picard started almost tauntingly as he stood with his back to his wide desk, arms crossed. Emma was standing opposite him, a meter away from him, looking at him with rather a curious expression - certainly not an obedient or frightened one, Picard mused with a hint of surprise.

Emma winced a little then tried to give him an apologetic smile "You wanna know what this all was about, right?"

"No, Lieutenant, I do not wish to know what 'this all' was about. However, I'd be happy to be enlightened rather on whether you're aware of where you are?"

"I do, of course. In your office."

"More general than that, Lieutenant." Picard tried to lead her up to the solution stepping up to her.

"On a ship. In space? In the universe?" she smiled not really seeing, where they were going - when was the shouting gonna be coming?

"Stop right there, at your first guess. On a ship. And not just on some ship. This is the flagship of Starfleet. Are you also aware of that fact?" his voice started to take up a harsh quality but was still not shouting.

"I know."

"I know, SIR." Picard corrected her emphasising the last word.

"I know, Sir." Emma answered - smile gone.

"Could I ask you to try to act as if you were really aware of that fact, Lieutenant? As if you knew, where your good fortune has brought you."

Emma nodded biting her lower lip "I'm sorry, I really meant no harm." she told him trying to conciliate him by looking at him with the eyes of a puppy dog asking for a bone.

The Captain was not moved - he was not in a good mood, and didn't feel like tolerating her disobedience which, to his shock, seemed to grow with the reprimand rather than to shrink. "I don't care about what you meant to do. I don't know how your superiors tolerated the kind of undisciplined behaviour you are displaying, but here, it won't be tolerated, I can guarantee that for you." his voice was now hard, and he stared right into her eyes - and was surprised that she didn't even flinch from his look.

"Which one, Sir?" she asked on a voice unwavering, bordering on nonchalance "The one who died of Hepatitis seven years ago? He realized pretty quickly that after the Federation made a compromise with the colony of not interfering, we were pretty much all by ourselves. Hierarchy was the least important thing. Or the one who died of AIDS five years ago? He had a crush on me, so didn't really ordered me around. Oh, by the way, those two are names of sicknesses cured two centuries ago. Well, that is, on Earth, they are. Or perhaps you're curious about my last superior, who died, when we escaped over two years ago to cross to the Resistance? He was shot in the head in broad daylight on the street. He was the last Starfleet officer apart from me on the colony. After his death, I was my own superior, and I could bear with myself pretty well, thank you for your kind though somewhat belated concern. Sir." she closed her eyes regretting her last few words instantly - and Picard was secretly grateful for her bowing her head, because he could take the time to cover his utter shock on what he'd just heard. By the time Emma looked at him with a sincerely apologetic gaze, he already composed his features. "I'm sorry..." she whispered "I never meant to... I always speak before I think."

"Lieutenant, I understand that you had to live a very different life on the Epsilon Four colony from the one you're living on the Enterprise now." his voice was neutral, not reprimanding anymore but not sympathetic either. "Still this is no excuse for acting as if you were in a vaudeville. You are a Starfleet officer on a Federation Starship, and your wish of expressing your affection has to wait until you both are off duty and off Bridge. I expect you to abide by the guidelines I've laid out. Dismissed." he finished though he was not sure which one he didn't want to put up with any longer: her pesky personality or the uncomfortable notion she reminded him of that the Federation displayed inexplicable neglect with regards to the officers left on the colony a decade ago.

Emma turned and walked toward the door but couldn't help herself "Hard-ass." she muttered stubbornly under her breath as she was about to step to the door to leave.

"Lieutenant!" Picard snapped - this was it! This was just it!

Emma turned back to him slowly. He stepped up to her to face her "Would you care to repeat what you've just said?" he asked on a low voice.

She stared into his eyes for a long moment. She could say sorry. She could say she hadn't said anything. But this man was too much like her father. Full of authority, trying to intimidate her by his presence alone. And she never ran away from standing up for herself, not against her father and certainly not against this petite Frenchman. "I said, Sir, that with all due respect, if you weren't such a hard-ass about showing affection, you would be happy with a certain someone we both well know. Sir."

Several emotions flickered through the Captain's face before his features hardened as if his face was carved out of stone. When he spoke, his voice was just as hard "You now return to your quarters, Lieutenant. And you stay there until we arrive at Starbase 2261. Your service to this ship is officially over."

Emma gazed at him with a bitter expression, but tried to smile against the catch in her throat "You'd have made wonderful friends with my old man. Too scared to make yourself happy? You make others unhappy instead. I hope for the sake of that certain someone we both know, that you won't die the way he did: full of regrets."

"You're dismissed, Lieutenant!" Picard snapped, and Emma turned, her hair swirling behind her and marched out of his ready room. He stepped out after her and looked at Data who was still lingering about on the Bridge.

"Mr. Data. Would you care to escort the Lieutenant to her quarters." the Captain told him peremptorily and was again lost in his ready room. Will had the impression, he would have slammed his door in behind her, if it wasn't automatic.


	36. Chapter 36

Emma was already at the turbolift door, when Data recovered enough from his surprise to realize he should go after her. All eyes were on her shocked as she marched up to the aft turbolift. The door opened, and finally catching up with her, Data slid inside between the closing doors to get in after her.

"Engineering!" Emma commanded, and the lift started to go.

"Emma! What has happened?! Why did the..." Data couldn't finish. Emma literally jumped into his arms and kissed him on the lips deeply.

He was so surprised again, that he didn't even close his eyes. He broke away confused "Emma, wh..."

"Too many questions, Deadpan!" she breathed pulling him in for another kiss. After a moment, he felt lost under her touch and responded fully. He slid his arms around her tiny waist and pulled her tightly to him.

His embrace around her was so secure that she felt there was no danger, no pain in this universe that could ever come close. She felt completely safe. His lips on hers warm, sweet, so alive that she felt as if she gained a new life from him. And she needed this embrace so much! Needed HIM to hold her!

Slowly, reluctantly their lips parted, and she drew in a long, shaky breath before burying her face into his shoulder. He held her close still confused, but realized that he needed to let her take her time.

"Is there any way I can help?" he asked on a soft voice. His breath in her ear.

She smiled instinctively and tightening her embrace one last time around him, she let him go enough to look into his eyes. She took his face into her hands and stroked his cheek: "You know that you're the best person in the whole universe? Hmm?"

He gazed into her eyes with his usual innocence "I believe your sample for such a statistical analysis is not sufficient, Ms. Jones." Then smiled at her indicating that he was trying to joke.

She chuckled softly "Then the best person I've ever known. Is that precise enough, Mr. Commander?"

"Certainly more accurate, however I would be grateful, if you could tell me what has occurred-"

But the turbolift stopped, and the doors opened.

"We'll get to that. Come, now!" she told him with a mysterious smile and pulled him after her by the hand.

They walked into Engineering just to see Sonya and Reg standing at the railing of the warp engine. Putting her arms around him, Sonya pulled Reg in for a long, close-mouthed kiss. Data stood there gaping, Emma smiled proudly, and the rest of the people in Engineering started to cheer and whistle after a moment of stunned silence.

When Sonya let Reg go, he just stared at her dumbstruck for a long moment, and seeing his shocked expression, Sonya suddenly thought she had committed a grave mistake.

"Come on, Broccoli!" Emma rooted on as quiet as she could with all the overwhelming emotions she felt "Show us you have balls!" Data being the only one who heard her, looked at her amused then looked back at the couple intrigued.

Sonya was about to curse Emma's and all her ancestor's name for dragging her into this humiliation, when suddenly Reg took her face in his hands and kissed her on the lips. After the surprise wore off, she slid her arms around his waist and kissed him back passionately.

Emma shook her head with a proud smile "Totally worth it!" she whispered, and Data looked at her questioningly.

She only glanced at him then turned back to watch the happy couple "We made a deal. I kept my end. And to her luck, apparently she kept hers too." she said almost to herself. Data watched her stunned now understanding what that kiss on the Bridge had been about. But yet again he was just completely baffled by her ways with people! She always tried to keep up the façade that she didn't like Sonya or Reg. And yet, she risked being reprimanded to help them. His expression turned really puzzled: why? Why did she need to scare people away, if she actually cared so much?!

But before he could ask anything, Geordi stepped over to them smiling "Now that came as a surprise." They gazed at him smiling back, and he went on "We've been betting for years about the exact time these two would finally hook up. It seems I lost, cause I said it won't be happening. Not after over six years." he chuckled "But I've never been happier about losing a bet in my life!" They chuckled with him, and he finally stepped up to the still kissing couple: "Alright, guys!" he said "I hate to be the killjoy, but I need to keep up some measure of order around here!" Reg and Sonya broke away, and slowly realizing where they were, they both looked around blushing so much that their faces were deep red. And all of a sudden everybody else in Engineering started to be deeply wrapped up in working a console or a padd.

Emma looked up at Data and held out her hand to him. He gazed into her eyes that were suddenly so sad that it made his heart miss a beat - though it should not have been possible. He took her hand, and she tried to smile "Take me to my quarters, handsome. Before you get in trouble because of me."

* * *

Only a few moments after getting into her quarters, she pushed him onto her couch, knelt over him straddling him and pushed her lips on his hungrily. He was completely taken by surprise and had no idea how to react. Her hands were on the fastenings of his uniform front, and before he could do anything to protest, she opened it. She kissed him again thrusting her tongue into his mouth seeking out his, and after some hesitation, he responded. She tried to push his uniform off his shoulders, and when she realized she couldn't do it without his assistance, she finally released his mouth:

"Take it off..." she whispered.

"Emma..." he tried, but her mouth was again on his.

After another long kiss, she looked into his eyes: "You've been so patient. You deserve your reward!" she told him on a soft moan and kissed him again.

When she let his mouth go again, he tried to put in "We will be late from the premiere..." but she didn't even seem to care. She kissed him yet again.

He blinked confused at this, and taking her face gently into his hands, broke away from her mouth: "Emma..." he muttered her name searching her eyes, feeling his own desires taking over his rational thoughts again - and asked something different than he originally intended "Are you certain about this? Not that I do not want to take this final step. Because I want to. I want it more than you know... but please remember that I would wait for you as long as you would like me to. We have time, there is no need to rush."

Pain flickered through her features, but it disappeared just as quickly, and she took her uniform top off wordlessly. Then as she just looked at him expectantly, he took off his own uniform top obediently. Emma then clasped her arms around his neck and pushing her mouth to his cheek, she whispered "We may not have as much time as you think."

He pulled away and looked at her shocked "What? Why-" but again Emma claimed his mouth. This time, he didn't let her divert his attention. He broke away and stared at her questioningly "Emma... What is happening?" he asked on a thin voice - this whole suddenly scared him! Something was terribly wrong!

And seeing him so worried, she gave in finally: "I'm grounded. And will be dropped off at the nearest starbase." she admitted on a shaken voice. Then seeing his utterly shocked expression, she tried to smile comfortingly "It doesn't really matter. It just happened a bit sooner than I expected." she said on a low voice "I never really believed I would've lasted long on this ship packed full with officers with exemplary records." she stroked his cheek trying to wipe the disbelief off his face "And sooner or later you would have realized for yourself that you deserve a lot better than a divorcing loser who is full of sarcasm and self-doubt-"

But she couldn't finish. He pressed his lips up to hers and gave her a long, close-mouthed kiss. When they came up for air, she looked at him confused searching his eyes "Wh-" she couldn't even begin the question before his lips were on hers again.

He gave her another soft, almost chaste kiss and tightening his embrace around her, he picked her up, and turning them around, he sat her on the couch. He let her mouth go and knelt on the floor in front of her between her knees. She looked at him almost dizzy and really confused. He held her hands gently in his and cocked his head to one side "I attempted to emulate the same behaviour you displayed, when you thought I was talking nonsense. Do you approve?" he asked curiously.

A soft chuckle escaped Emma's lips, but the next moment, she broke down in tears and clasping her arms around his neck pulled him close to her. "I'm so stupid..." she moaned "Why do I have to always have the last word?! Why do I have to fight all the time? Why can't I just shut my mouth? Just once for a change?"

"Why do you have to be the person you are?" he asked her with a small smile on his lips. Another tear-filled chuckle left her lips, and she sighed: it was just impossible to resist the security of his embrace, and she felt herself slowly calm down. When he heard her breathing even, he loosened his embrace on her, and she let him go. She wiped her tears bowing her head, and he took her hands into his again. He then tried to catch her lowered gaze with his, cocking his head from side to side. He didn't give up until he managed to draw a small smile out of her. "Are you ready to finally tell me what has upset you so much? What happened in the Captain's ready room?"

She winced and looked at him apologetically "I... I picked a fight with him..."

Data gave her a blank look at first, then finding the colloquialism, he gaped at her "What?!" He tried to search for an adequate term in his language banks to express his degree of astonishment and concluded that he would definitely need to update those databanks, because he failed to find a correct term for this. He shook his head to clear his mind "What did you do?" he asked aghast.

Emma shrugged uncomfortably "I was... insolent. VERY insolent. He became furious and told me I will leave the ship at starbase whateveritsnumber." she shook her head helpless "I'm so freaking stupid! Why wasn't I thinking? I... I just started to settle in here! Finally, I have a comfortable home, I have a wonderful hobby, I managed to make some friends - you see, even with Sonya, we finally figured out how to talk to each other. And I have you..." she grew silent and just looked into his eyes hoping that he would understand what she was not able to put into words. After a long moment, she bowed her head again "And I screw it up, so I could be right for one short moment."

Data closed his eyes and shook his head bemused then looked back at her "You would not be you, if you did not have to have the last word. Your headstrong personality was one of the greatest challenges, when I decided I would try to 'get along' so to speak with you... And perhaps one of the greatest attractions." he added with a shy smile.

She gazed into his eyes for a long moment and then frowned "Why me? Data. There are so many other girls out there, who are so much easier to 'get-along-so-to-speak-with'. Why did you choose me?" she asked finally the one question she'd been asking herself almost ever since they knew each other. She honestly could not see how such a good-hearted guy would want anything from someone like her.

His lips curled up into a small smile "You were the one who was there, when I most needed it, no matter how hard I pushed you away, you were there. And... I found that we are much alike. Even if it does not meet the naked eye at first sight. You are just as perplexed about human interpersonal relationships and the emotions involved in them as sometimes I am. The only difference between the two of us is the means to treat that confusion. With you, I feel less unique. Less one of a kind. Less isolated. I finally feel that I am just - as you say - a guy."

She smiled lovingly and stroked his cheek "A guy who is just as screwed up as his gal? I think I love the sound of that!" she whispered and leaned close to his lips. He closed the distance and kissed her on the lips.

It took some time until they came up for air. When he released her, he stroked her long strands "I will talk to the Captain. And try to make him revise his opinion about you."

"Would you, really?" she asked on a thin, disbelieving voice.

"Of course. He and I are old friends. He values my opinion."

"That wouldn't be fair on anybody else who would get disciplined but is not your girlfriend." she winced feeling really bad about such a favouritism.

"It is fortunate then that you are you and not somebody else." he smiled making a very subtle attempt at the kind of teasing she usually applied. Then looked at her serious again "Besides, if you were not my girlfriend, but I knew you, I would still speak to the Captain in your defence." he seemed to consider something and then suddenly smiled at her once more "You are the kind of person for whom one seems to need a 'users manual' before getting to know." Emma laughed out loud, and Data's smile broadened "Was that amusing? Really? It was a joke I have been working on for quite some time!"

Emma grinned "For me it was, but you know the rule." she shrugged almost shyly.

He gave her a blank look "What kind of rule?"

She gazed away seemingly embarrassed "You know... The one which allows you to notice that a girl is nuts about you: she laughs at every joke you try!" she explained and gazed into his eyes lovingly.

He smiled in wonder then looked at her serious once again: "I will ask for a second opinion from Geordi then." he told her, then his expression softened "But before that..." his voice was low - almost seductive before he leaned close and kissed her again.

* * *

They didn't go to the bedroom. They ended up on the couch feverishly making out and trying to caress each other wherever they could reach without actually taking their clothes off. Emma felt she time-travelled back into her teens fooling around like that, but she felt it to be so right! Data was still such an innocent kid... She felt relieved that he didn't give in, when she tried to persuade him to finish what they had started in the morning. She realized that he needed time just as much as she did, no matter how much he thought he didn't.

She had no idea how he did it, but he managed to chase all her fears and worries away. The only thing that remained were the two of them on the couch. He consoled her thoroughly and somehow made her trust his word when he told her, he would protect her. She always felt up to protect herself, but his offer to talk to the Captain for her sake was just such a sweet gesture from him that it was impossible to resist! He was really a knight in shining armour!

The door chime disturbed them after half an hour of fooling around, and they gazed at each other a bit absently, and with lips wet from their deep kisses - and Emma was very much out of breath. She dropped her head back on the couch frustrated "This will be Bev. I'll need to disappoint her that I screwed her premiere up." he looked at her with a blank expression, and she knew he needed time to recall anything apart from the last half an hour "I'm grounded, I can't play on the holodeck tonight." she explained, and he nodded frowning, getting a grip on reality only slowly.

They got up and tried to tidy themselves up a little before calling for the door. Data was still combing his fingers through his slightly mussed up hair, when a really exasperated Beverly stepped through the door.

"What in heaven's name are you two doing here?!" she asked them with her fists on her hips as if she was ready to tell two little children off "We are an hour behind schedule! It's bad enough that I got caught up at sickbay and Lieutenant Broccoli-Barclay-ehhwhatever at engineering, but when I finally get to the holodeck, you're nowhere to be seen! Does the term dress-rehearsal ring any bells?! We were to start it an hour ago!-"

"Bev, Bev! Stop freaking out already!" Emma told her on a hard voice.

"I'm not freaking out! I'm trying to organize a premiere here!" she retorted "I'm really happy about your happiness, but it's no excuse for ruining the work of the six of us!"

"No, Bev, it's not! And you're right about everything, Mother Hen! But it's more complicated than just the two of us getting caught up in each other's mouth! I got into a little tiff with your Captain, and I got grounded." Emma stated it on a matter-of-fact voice wincing a little.

Beverly stared at her gaping for a moment then "You WHAT?!"

"You heard it..." Emma winced again "I'm really sorry, sweetie, I screwed this one up! I wish you knew how sorry I am!" she told her on a sincerely remorseful voice.

"What in heaven's name did you manage to... Oh, whatever! I know already. You didn't manage to sit on your big mouth, and he was unprepared for it."

Emma sighed "Basically, yeah..." she shrugged and bowed her head.

"Wonderful..." Beverly shook her head bemused then as an uncomfortable moment of silence descended on them, she finally made a decision "You know what? I don't care! Come on!" she motioned for them to follow her out.

"Bev!"

"Doctor Crusher!" Data butted in, but they were marching on the corridor already "Please note that if Emma does not obey a direct order from the Captain, she could get court martialed! Please consider this for a moment!"

Beverly just pushed them into a turbolift, and they were on their way already, when she answered "I'm the CMO. I can override the Captain's decision, if I suspect he made it under the effect of a sickness or other mental disturbance. Considering Emma's general effect on the average human personality, I judge he made that decision under severe mental stress. Therefore it is by here overridden by the CMO." Data was about to point out that it was hardly a reasoning any court martial procedure would accept, and she waved giving in "I'll talk to him, Data, just let it go for now, and let's get this premiere over with!"

Data closed his mouth and still looked somewhat uneasily at Emma. She just looked at her red-head friend with an amused smile "Severe mental stress? Thanks, Bev." .

"Very welcome! That list of paying me back, by the way, is getting exceedingly long, darling. I'm afraid a vase or shawl won't do anymore." Beverly told her but couldn't suppress her smile either.


	37. Chapter 37

After stepping into the holodeck, Beverly took them back-stage. Reg made the theatre fully realistic, so it had dressing rooms as well where they could prepare for the performance. "Come on! Mr. Mot should already be here to do your hair! Let's hope he's not late as well, and he's in the dressing room with Sonya." Bev noted bemused.

They all went in and Beverly asked without even saying hello: "How are things going, Mr. Mot?"

Hearing her, Mr. Mot stopped in whatever he was doing on Sonya's hair and hurried up to Bev. He took her hand into both of his: "Beverly, all is in the best of hands. In two hours, all of your cast will have the most fashionable 20th century hairstyles. They'll look as if they stepped out of the very movie you recommended to me for research on the fashion of that time!" he smiled with enthusiasm.

"Two hours?!" Beverly shook her head exasperated "We are behind schedule by one hour already! Mr. Mot. You have no more than 60 minutes." she told him on a commanding voice.

"60 minutes?! But that's just impossible!" he let her hand go now just as exasperated as she was.

Emma stepped up to them and pushed him back behind Sonya "Too much chatter, Mot! Make your hand move, not your mouth!"

"But let me at least call a colleague to help me out!"

Before long, two blue-skinned, Bolian hair-dressers were moving feverishly around the girls, and in little less than an hour's time, Emma got up from the chair with a hairstyle that was a perfect imitation of Ingrid Bergman's hair from Casablanca. She then put on some make-up fit for the era and the costume Sonya designed, a sleeveless, drop-waist flapper dress from the 1920s with a coat she could wear during the street scenes. When they were done, she and Sonya looked at each other with quite an amount of satisfaction.

"Let's turn some heads!" Emma said, and they stepped out of the dressing room, where the boys and Beverly were waiting. Data and Reg had also put on their own costumes and stood there gaping at the girls.

Emma locked gazes with the stunned Data, then after a moment, stepped up to him. He seemed to have been struck dumb by her sight, and she smiled lovingly at his expression. Standing close to him, she reached up and gently closed his gaping mouth: "Is it so impressive?"

"Eh... very!" he nodded, when he finally found a processor thread free to be utilized for vocal interaction.

"You're also very handsome, Handsome!" she told him on a seductive low voice. He WAS dashing in his three-piece suit which highlighted his masculine stature, his thin waist and broad shoulders - and Emma again felt helplessly attracted to him. He smiled shyly at her compliment and bowed down to her to kiss her, but she stopped him.

"No new hairstyle for you?" she asked surprised when she suddenly noticed that his hair was the same old (and boring) combed back style as always.

Mr. Mot spread his arms frustrated "He said his hair does not require trimming. I told him I can create a new hairstyle without trimming but..." he shrugged.

Emma frowned up at Data "Deadpan!" she put her fists on her hips "What's this non-cooperativeness?"

"I do not see why my hair needs any change!" Data told her defensively "My usual hairstyle is a hairstyle existing in the early 20th century! Why should it be altered?"

"Because for one, we're pulling on the skins of our characters! Secondly, we need to step out of our comfort-zones every once in a while. And last but not least, because I believe I'm speaking for all of us in this room, when I say, I've always wanted to do this!" and without further ado, she reached up and mussed Data's perfectly combed back hair.

"Hey!" he stepped back bewildered but too late: he stood there now completely dishevelled.

Emma snapped her fingers "Mot!" and pointed at Data standing there now wide-eyed, gaping. Mr. Mot then pushed the speechless android back into the dressing room. In a few minutes, they were out again, and Data's hair was combed a little differently then it usually was: it was parted at the side and combed sideways. Emma smiled tenderly, it looked a lot more natural that way, and it suited him a lot better than the combed back style. Even with the mortified expression on his face, he was just striking!


	38. Chapter 38

An hour after throwing Lieutenant Jones out of his ready room, Captain Picard finally came off the ceiling and started to think clearly. The pesky officer actually didn't commit a crime big enough to deserve a transfer from the ship - not that transfers occurred because of the lack of merit at all, but he did mean it as a punishment this time. He was thinking about making her atone for the insubordination she displayed by letting her believe for a few more hours that she actually would have to leave the ship. But then again, his conscience intervened: she was actually not insubordinate, she was just utterly impudent. Not to mention the fact that she managed to find the one spot that made him breathe fire with rage in a single instant - and she kept pressing that very spot!

He sighed bemused. He knew he should talk to her and make her aware that the kind of behaviour she displayed was not tolerable, and would not be tolerated in the future - at least as long as she was assigned to this very ship, under his command. So he finally made himself get up from his couch, lazily walked out of his ready room and went straight to Deck 8.

When he got no answer to the door chime at her quarters, he frowned feeling his previous anger steadily returning. "Computer! Locate Lieutenant Jones."

"Please specify! Which Lieutenant Jones are you referring to?"

"There are more of them... I don't even want to begin to think about what this ship would be like, if there were more of that woman on board..." he grumbled moodily.

"Unable to process inquiry or request."

The Captain grimaced "What's her name?" he muttered "Beverly talked about her so much - how did I forget?... Anyway, locate Medical Officer Lieutenant Jones, and when you're at it, give me her name."

"Lieutenant Jones is on holodeck three. First name Emma, last name Jones, birth name Emma Stern." the computer answered meticulously.

The Captain shook his head in disbelief. On the holodeck! She's confined to quarters, and what's the first thing she does? Commit another insubordination by going for some leisure activity... This WAS beyond mere impudence! This time she disobeyed a direct order from her superior!

He marched to the nearest turbolift all the while fuming, his anger just grew with every step he took! He decided to revise his previous revision of his punishment to her! She won't get away with this one! He had no reason to be lenient, if she plainly considered herself to be above the rules! Of course, with Admiral Stern as her father - he recognized the name immediately when the computer gave it to him - it was plain that she was used to having the leisure to do as she pleased! Now he would teach her otherwise!

He went straight to the holodeck. When he stepped out of the lift, he was surprised to find one of the holodeck doors open, and people going in with delightful smiles on their faces. He frowned confused and peeping inside, it finally dawned on him: of course! Beverly's play! How could he forget it?!

"Captain!" he heard a familiar female voice from behind him, and he turned as if waken from a dream.

"Counsellor!"

Deanna walked up to him with a broad smile "I'm glad you could come!" she told him cheerfully.

After a moment of hesitation, he gave her a tight smile "I wouldn't have missed it for anything." he told her on a low voice - knowing exactly that she could feel he was not entirely sincere given the fact that he had almost forgotten about it...

Deanna let it go and motioned for them to go in. "Do you know where we are supposed to sit?" she asked as they stepped inside and instead of a customary house they found small, round tables with chairs around them - as if they were in a vintage Club. But it was all black and white!

A holo-waitress stepped up to them smiling politely - she was black and white as well: "Good evening, Ma'am and Sir! This way please!" she gestured and showed the surprised couple to a table near the stage.

"This is going to be awesome! I've never seen anything like this before!" Deanna looked around amused as they sat down. As if they were inside some centuries old movie! "This really will be something unique as Beverly promised!"

"I suppose so, Counsellor..." the Captain nodded after a moment of silence. Deanna thought about asking him why he felt so angry and timid, almost embarrassed at the same time, but she thought better of it and didn't press on for more conversation.

* * *

Data was eyeing his reflection in a thin metal surface behind the scenes just minutes before having to go on stage. He put a hand to his hair self-consciously. It was odd to feel so embarrassed because of a new hairstyle; he played roles wearing more extreme make-up than this - though at that time he had no emotions. He suddenly felt somebody touch his shoulder and turned to see Beverly smiling at him encouragingly:

"You look great, Data." she reassured him but she noticed his gaze wandering to the side - through a thin opening of the curtains, he was just able to get a glimpse of the audience slowly arriving and taking their places at the round tables. He just spotted the Captain sitting down with Counsellor Troi, and as fear surged up in him, he suddenly realized that he wasn't apprehensive because of his new hair! It was actually stage fright! He looked into Beverly's eyes with panic steadily growing in his own, and she too realized finally what was happening to him.

"Doctor Crusher..." he whispered "I-I cannot... I will not..." he shook his head, and his gaze wandered back to where he could see the audience. He felt his vision blur with fright and felt he had to hold on to something - he never thought he was capable of that kind of sheer panic without being in a life-threatening situation! In itself, it was fascinating - if completely distracting.

"Data! Please, stop this! You'll be fine! This is not your first performance, and you've always done perfectly fine. There's no reason for you to get butterflies just now!" she frowned in disbelief.

"No, Doctor! I will not do it! I-I do not remember any of my lines!" he shook his head getting agitated. He took a step back and felt a railing of some sort at his back. Groping, he put his hands on it and grabbed it as if he wanted to keep himself being dragged away from the very spot he was frozen to.

Beverly chuckled despite trying to be sympathetic "Data, you are the one person who cannot forget any of his lines!"

"Mmmm..." he shook his head stubbornly "I cannot... please do not make me go out there!" he pleaded when Emma, Reg and Sonya stepped up to them.

"What's up?" Emma looked at them frowning.

"Data is having a bad attack of stage fright." Beverly looked at her now a little bit frustrated. She was expecting Reg or maybe Sonya show that they were having some butterflies, but Data?! He was the one person she thought would never have any issues of this kind!

He looked at Emma "I will... to use a colloquialism you usually do, 'screw up'! I will ruin the play!" he explained wide-eyed - the railing was now bent, where he held on to it with his fists.

"Oh, baby!" Emma smiled and stepping up to him stroked his cheek lovingly "I'll be there with you, and watch out for you, as you will watch out for me! You're not doing this alone! I'm joining you on stage in a few minutes."

"Two minutes forty-four seconds." he nodded grabbing hold of the rationality of that thought - and then of her hand as if he was a drowning, looking for something to hold on to.

"Yeah, so. Only 2 minutes 44 secs, and we'll date on-stage! It'll be fun, don't be scared!" she smiled encouragingly, then her expression changed to a disillusioned one "Besides, if somebody ruins this play, it will be those two!" she pointed to her side where Reg and Sonya were STILL kissing - seemingly not really caring about where they were or what they were about to do.

Data and Beverly gazed at them a little taken aback, while Emma snorted annoyed "I should never have interfered in the processes of mother nature."

Beverly looked back at Data "Just concentrate on the one scene you're doing. On the one song you're singing. Don't be bothered by the audience. Pretend they aren't there! Or that they're just holodeck characters. And you'll be fine, I promise." she smiled patting him on the arm. "Okay?"

He took a shaky breath and nodded "Okay." he whispered. His vision was clear now, and the panic lessened even if only for a bit. How could this have happened to him? he needed to run a diagnostics after the performance for sure! He was always baffled when his programming made him realize that he was actually more human than he ever expected and this occasion was no exception.

"Alright. Then let's get down to business." Beverly looked at Emma and Data smiling then as her gaze went from them to the other couple, her smile turned into an annoyed frown.

Emma cleared her throat "Khm! Hey, you guys over there! If you've had enough of examining each other's tonsils, we could start this petty little premiere of ours we've been working our asses off for the last month!"

They broke away and looked at them as if waking from a dream. Reg blinked surprised "S-sure!" They both were flushed, and Sonya tried to hide her embarrassed expression behind Reg's arm as she snuggled up to him.

Beverly looked at all four of them with a smile full of pride "You will be great! I'm very proud of all of you! Now break a leg!"

They said goodbye to her and a minute after she left, the lights went out in the house, and so it began!


	39. Chapter 39

Deanna sat at the small, round table with the Captain and Beverly, who had joined them only a moment ago. She watched them curiously as Beverly leaned over to the Captain and whispered to him "We'll need to talk! Later." To which the Captain's only response was a rush of realization followed by embarrassment Deanna could feel radiating from him - though she did not understand why. She also felt a warm excitement coming from Beverly disturbed only for a fleeting moment by a slight resentment when the Doctor told the Captain what she had. Deanna knew something was up between the two of them - and at times like this, she wished she could read their thoughts as well as their emotions.

But she couldn't. So she just turned her attention to the here and now as she looked around: the house was full, at every table there sat three-four people and were turning their heads curiously at the strange settings. She had to admit she had never attended a play where the audience was part of the settings, and she was as curious as everybody else around her.

She just loved coming to the theatre! She always enjoyed the play on two different levels! The first one was the level everybody else sensed: the feelings of the characters, the excitement of the plot, the fun of the comedy, the sadness of the tragedy... The other level was the emotions the audience felt while watching. It was interesting how different the reactions were that the scenes generated in the people around her.

After the lights went out, and the play began, she got a very vivid example for this, when the second scene of Dreamland played out. Deanna watched Data doing his tap-dancing bit with delight and a hint of surprise, while Beverly watched him proud - and the Captain felt embarrassed, thinking the scene to be somewhat ridiculous. Deanna feeling his awkwardness, smiled to herself: of course, serious dramas like Shakespeare tragedies were a lot closer to the Captain's personality and so also to his taste.

After the scene, Deanna then noticed there was a third level of enjoyment she could have differentiated: the emotions of the participants. Though she could not sense Data's feelings, she could have made a good guess while watching him staring after Emma, when She left him there on the Street to go to El Parador. Or when He was singing to her  _"Some enchanted evening..."_ inside the Restaurant - just a few tables from them!

It was a delight to watch Will appear as the leader of the Mariachi in full Mariachi costume, including a sombrero! And Deanna was instantly reminded of Q's entree after he got his powers back almost a decade ago - it was unforgettable. She glanced to her side and saw that even the Captain allowed himself a small smile - and then even a chuckle, when Lieutenant Barclay as the Waiter walked up to Data and told him that He was creeping Emma out with his singing to her from across the crowded room!

By the time, Emma and Data hopped onto the Train, even the Captain started to enjoy what he was watching. The plot and the songs were so cute and corny, it was impossible not to fall in love with the whole of it - or with the wonderful chemistry those two on stage! Beverly was right: they really clicked! It was breathtaking as they waltzed then did some swinging together, singing and dancing in an amazing harmony. By the time they disappeared inside the girl's apartment 'for a nightcap' as the line went, Deanna was not able to tell Emma's character's feelings and Emma's own apart. It was such a captivating and enchanting emotion being so deeply in love that Deanna suddenly found herself wishing to feel it too for a special someone.

It was then even more astounding to watch them break up in the next scene. Sonya did a great job as the snarky 'mistress' saying  _"Sugar, you've got a terrific guy here!"_  and Emma's reply  _"Yeah... I thought so..."_  was simply heart-breaking, just as her song  _"I'll never forget you..."_.

They went on to the Ship, where Will did his second cameo as the leader of the Strolling Trubadours, and the mood became melancholic. Deanna knew everybody in the room could relate to the feeling of Data's sad song going:  _"What'll I do, When you are far away, And I am blue, What'll I do?"_  Feeling a rush of profound sadness coming from behind her, Deanna looked around and saw an ensign sitting at a table in the back of the room, who actually cried listening to the song - Deanna knew, the girl was just through a break-up herself.

The scene changed again, and they found themselves part of the audience of a Club, where Data performed a song cheerful and taunting about the break-up, and it lifted the mood. Just as the sadness started to lift from the hearts of the audience, Data and Emma met yet again - with Reg as her new and very jealous Fiancé... When the two of them remained alone, and Emma sang her beautiful song  _"I remember you..."_  everybody in the room was sure they needed to be together again! Deanna felt the audience rooted for them to reconcile, almost as if it was a matter of life-and-death throughout Data's song  _"Come back to me!"_  Everybody completely forgot about the fact that they were actually watching a dream.

The song finished, and there was a knock on Data's hotel Room door. He quickly opened it, and there stood Emma out of breath but beaming with joy!

 _"Can I come in?"_  She asked breathlessly as She stepped in.

 _"How did you..."_  He started just dumbfounded.

 _"I left right after the first 'Come back to me'."_  She cut in gasping both from running and from being helplessly in love.

He then crushed her in an embrace and kissed her as passionately as He could. Deanna was completely overwhelmed by the strong emotions oozing from them so much so that she felt a catch in her throat. She looked to her sides and was surprised to see the Captain watching them with the same amazement as everybody else in the room!

 _"This is a dream!"_  Data breathed  _"I can't believe you're here!"_  He moaned.

 _"I shouldn't be! ...Too dangerous! You don't know what he's capable of, he's crazy!"_  Emma told him frightened.

_"Don't be afraid. Whatever happens, we face it together!"_

And the mood suddenly changed from euphoria to the determination of star-crossed lovers as He started to sing:

_"There may be troubles ahead_   
_But while there's moonlight_   
_And music and love and romance_   
_Let's face the music and dance"_

She went on singing the same tune:

_"Before the fiddlers have fled_   
_Before they ask us to pay the bill_   
_And while we still have the chance_   
_Let's face the music and dance"_

As they started to dance tango, they went on with singing the next lines together:

_"Soon, we'll be without the moon_   
_Humming a different tune and then_   
_There may be tear drops to shed_   
_So while there's moonlight_   
_And music and love and romance_   
_Let's face the music and dance_   
_Let's face the music and dance!"_

When they finished the song and just stood there on stage holding on to each other as if their lives depended on it, the audience burst into a spontaneous applause, and Deanna could feel that both Emma and Beverly were surprised by it. But after a few moments, in which Emma could catch her breath, the clapping died down, and the scene went on:

 _"There's nothing he can do to keep us apart!"_  Data told her determined.

 _"He said he'd kill me, if I ever left him."_  She replied on a low voice  _"We've gotta get outa here!"_

 _"Alright. I don't know where we're going but..."_  but He couldn't finish. The door crashed open, and there stood Emma's Fiancé with a gun in hand. He stepped inside and pointing the gun on Data, cocked it with a noise that sent shivers up the spines of everybody in the audience.

 _"Don't be crazy! Put the gun down!"_  He told the Fiancé on a low voice, who was now insane with jealousy.

But he didn't listen, just glared at her:  _"Get out of the way, baby!"_  he told Emma as She suddenly stepped between the two of them.

 _"Please don't! Don't! Ah..."_  She looked from one man to the other.

 _"You what? Come back to me?!"_  the Fiancé taunted  _"Now, get out of the way!"_

 _"Don't be a fool!"_  Data tried to step up to him.

_"I said get out of the way!"_

_"You'll never get away with this!"_

_"No, please!"_  She pleaded.

 _"Shut up, will you?!"_  the gun fired in the trembling hands of the Fiancé, and Emma slumped to the floor. As Data took her into his arms gently, She looked into his eyes one last time, then her eyes closed, and her head turned to the side.

The curtains closed, and Sonya appeared on stage singing:

_"When skies are cloudy and gray_   
_They're only gray for a day_   
_So wrap your troubles in dreams_   
_And dream your troubles away_

_Until that sunshine peeps through_   
_There's only one thing to do_   
_Just wrap your troubles in dreams_   
_And dream all your troubles away"_

And as the curtains opened again, the scene changed to a funeral.

 _"We commend to Almighty God our sister!"_  the reverend - played by Will - went on with his eulogy on a shaken voice  _"We commit her body to the ground. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust! The Lord bless her and keep her!"_

The funeral ended, and Data walked to the seashore alone, slouching, broken by pain. Deanna looked around through her tears and saw that most of the audience were struggling to keep themselves from crying. When Data looked up at the sky, for some reason, Deanna felt she was reminded of what it was like when they had said goodbye to Tasha - and she let her tears fall.

 _"I can't believe you're gone!"_  He whispered.

Then suddenly Emma's voice could be heard with a faint echo  _"I'm not! I'm still here."_  She told him and slowly appeared standing on a cloud over the ocean, above him - if He reached out, He might have been able to touch her! Bright light surrounded her petite figure, almost consuming her.

 _"Oh, my god! You're alive!"_  He moaned feeling his eyes filling with tears of joy.

She smiled a little embarrassed  _"Well, no! That's why I'm hovering above you."_  - a tear-filled chuckle rippled through the audience.

 _"Oh, yeah..."_  He wiped his tears smiling.

 _"Do you love me?"_  She asked then on a soft voice.

 _"More than you know! I hate this life without you!"_  He replied, and She smiled at him tenderly.

 _"Then come with me! Take a chance!"_  She whispered the same thing He'd whispered to her on their very first night together.

And She started to sing a song so unearthly and beautiful that Deanna thought only angels could have composed something as exquisite as that!

_"Take my hand,_   
_I'm a stranger in Paradise_   
_All lost in a wonderland_   
_A stranger in paradise"_

He then went on with the same melody:

_"If I stand starry eyed,_   
_There's a danger in Paradise_   
_For mortals who stand beside_   
_An angel like you"_

She sang on then:

_"I saw your face_   
_And I ascended_   
_Out of the common place_   
_Into the rare_   
_Somewhere in space_   
_I hang suspended_   
_Until I know_   
_There's a chance that you care!_

_Won't you answer the fervent prayer?_   
_Of a stranger in paradise_   
_Don't send me in dark despair_   
_From all that I hunger for!"_

Then He continued:

_"But open your angel's arms_   
_To this stranger in paradise_   
_And tell him that he need be_   
_A stranger no more!"_

The enchanting music played on in the air for a few moments longer as She reached out with her hand:

_"Come with me!"_

_"Fly me to the Moon!"_  He whispered and took her offered hand.

When their hands touched, a bright light filled the room, and the curtains closed again giving the audience one brief moment to wipe their tears before Reg and Sonya walked up the stage singing cheerfully:

_"Wake up, wake up you sleepy head!_   
_Get up, get up, get out of bed!"_

And they opened the curtain to reveal the hotel Room of Data once again then disappeared off-stage.

 _"Wake up, Sleepy-head!"_  a female voice could be heard from outside.

He was tossing and turning in his bed between dream and wakefulness  _"I swear I didn't even know her... She was here when I..."_

And there was some more loud knocking:  _"Hey!"_

He then woke fully and sat up in the bed completely dishevelled - which drew a ripple of laughter from the audience. He jumped out of his bed in pyjamas and a bathrobe, and before opening the door, He stopped short unsure if He really heard the voice He thought He did - it was impossible!

 _"Who's there?!"_  He asked.

 _"It's me!"_  Emma answered impatiently, and He opened the door at last.

 _"Oh, my god! You're alive!"_  He whispered dumbstruck.

She gazed around somewhat perplexed:  _"Yeah, that's why I'm standing in the doorway."_  - the audience again chuckled.

He pulled her in and crushed her into an embrace:  _"Come here!"_  Then kissed her on the lips almost desperately.

He finally released her mouth for a brief moment, and She managed to get out  _"Mmmm, I can't breathe!"_  before He kissed her again.

 _"I can't believe you're here!"_  He told her, when He finally felt up to break away from her lips.

 _"What is it? What's happened?"_  She asked now alarmed.

 _"Oh, I had the craziest dream!"_  He said on a shaken voice.

_"Mmmm, you did? Was I in it?"_

_"Oh, yes!"_

_"Well, tell me!"_  She asked, and He started in an undending flood of words still confused.

 _"There was this woman... and I didn't know who she was, but you thought I'd cheated on you. And you left me. Then I went on this ship, and there were these Trubadours, but they weren't the Trubadours, they were the Mariachi from before! And the ship hit an iceberg, and I thought I was gonna drown, but I didn't! And the next thing I knew I was in a Club singing, and you came in with your boyfriend... I-I am awake, right?"_  He asked suddenly completely unsure.

After a moment, She looked at him teasing  _"So. You cheated on me?"_

His eyes widened  _"I'm sorry!"_  He told her on a thin voice.

She smiled and stroked his cheek lovingly  _"It's okay! It was just a dream! It wasn't real!"_

 _"You're the only dream that's real!"_  He answered with all-consuming devotion.

 _"Oh, you're sweet."_  She told him and gave him a small kiss on the lips  _"Go on, elaborate!"_

And He started to sing the most adorable love-song:

_"To know you, is to love you,_   
_And I love you cause I know you_   
_Are such a sweetheart_   
_that when you walk down the street,_   
_Everyone's heart, just naturally skips a beat!_

_The others, who have met you,_   
_Better started to forget you_   
_Because, to know you is to love you so,_   
_It's time for everyone you know,_   
_To know you love me!"_

She then took on the tune:

_"Were you the sun, it would be twice as sunny,_   
_Were you a bee, there would be sweeter honey,_   
_Were you a tune everyone would be croonin'_   
_Harmonizin' out in the streets!_   
_You're such a bundle of me oh my,_   
_And that's the reason when you go by,_   
_Each heart naturally skips a beat! ...Dear..."_

And they sang the last bit together, with her doing the vocal for him:

_"The others..._   
_(Were you the spring, you would be twice as springy!)_   
_Who have met you..._   
_(Were you a vine, you would be twice as clingy!)_   
_Better started..._   
_(Were you the moon, everyone would be spoonin'!)_   
_To forget you..._   
_(Every night would be mighty sweet!)"_

She then sang the line:  _"Because, to know you..."_

 _"You make my life a bowl of peaches and cream!"_  He told her.

 _"...Is to love you..."_  She sang smiling.

 _"You've got me living in the craziest dream!"_  He replied.

And they finished the song together:  
 _"To know that you... love me!"_

The music played out, and She gave him the most seductive smile:  _"Come on! Let's go back to bed!"_  She purred.

He couldn't help but smile back embarrassed  _"I-I don't think I can sleep any more!"_

 _"Perfect!"_  She whispered and turned on the radio. Then slid her arms around his neck and kissed him. They cuddled lovingly stumbling to the bed as the lights dimmed around them.

Reg and Sonya appeared at the two ends of the stage holding the curtains in their hands, and they started singing:

_"Put your dreams away for another day_   
_And I will take their place in your heart"_

They pulled the two curtains slowly together until they met mid-stage and sang the last lines hand in hand:

_"Let your kiss confess this is happiness, darling_   
_And put all your dreams away"_

Then while the music played out, they disappeared behind the curtains as well. The only sound remaining was the ringing of the wake-up call, Data'd ordered for 9:30 AM at the very beginning of the play. When it died down too, the lights went out, and the audience burst into applause.

* * *

When they went out to bow to the audience for the fifth time, and then all five of them met back-stage again, the audience was still applauding. Moreover, the applause became wilder with people whistling and shouting 'Bravo!'. They looked at each other a little puzzled.

"Well. At least, it seems we did not flop." Emma told them spreading her arms.

"Oh, we did well over that!" Will told them with a grin. Then motioned with his head to the stage "Let's indulge ourselves in success a little more!"

They all nodded smiling relieved and happy.

Will went out and bowed then stepped back, and Sonya jogged out on the stage. She bowed smiling and joined Will at the back of the stage. Reg was the next who got some whistling - apparently from the female portion of the audience - and he joined his two castmates at the back too with burning cheeks. Then came out Emma - she took her time, she did not hurry, only walked until she was mid-stage and then bowed low. She realized she missed this SO much, and she wanted to enjoy it as long as she could. When she straightened, she locked gazes with Bev and mouthed 'Thank you!' - Beverly had to wipe a stray tear seeing this. Emma joined the others, and finally Data stepped on stage. The house was literally brought down by only his sight. He couldn't help to feel a little embarrassed, when the audience gave him a standing ovation - he had hoped his performance would be adequate, but had never dreamed it could yield such a reaction. He bowed and gave the people a timid smile, then stepping back to the others, took his place in the middle, next to Emma, as all five of them held hands and stepped out to the front of the stage to bow together. Then they bowed again one by one and left the stage starting with Will then going on with Sonya and Reg then finally ending with Emma and Data.

When they were recalled for the seventh time, Emma was struck by an idea, and she stepped down the stage and pulled a very embarrassed and unwilling Beverly up to them and had her bow to the audience too. The performers applauded too as she bowed, then the two old friends hugged tightly. Beverly then bowed together with them one final time, and they all disappeared back-stage once again.

When they heard that the applause died down, they looked at each other somewhat relieved - except for Will and Emma, who thoroughly enjoyed the attention and would have went back a thousand times, if the audience wanted.

"I'm very proud of you! All of you! You did better than your best!" Beverly praised them.

"It's your merit, Bev!" Emma told her and hugged her again lovingly.

"That's right!" Will told her and pulled her in for a hug too.

Then came Sonya, Reg and finally Data; they all gave her a grateful though a bit shy hug.

When she released Data, she looked at all of them "There will be a small gathering in Ten Forward. When you're finished with cleaning up and changing, step by! I think there will be some people who would want to get to know you - if they haven't already." she chuckled and looked up at Data stroking his arm "Especially you, Prince Charming!"

They all laughed, while Data stood there with a confused and embarrassed expression "I do not understand, Doctor Crusher! I only played a character in a piece! Why would anyone be interested in ME because of the personality of my character?"

They all chuckled at his innocence. "Oh, god, if anyone is more naive than that, that's cheating or wearing make-up!" Emma quoted another saying from Epsilon "Come here!" she told him lovingly and pulled him in for a short kiss then smiled at him naughtily "Don't try to understand, Handsome, people are crazy! Just enjoy that you're popular!"

They chuckled some more, and Beverly exchanged a glance with Will seeing Emma cuddle up to Data, and Sonya to Reg with a happy smile. If for nothing else, but for seeing all of them so happy it was all worth the energy and time.

"See you all in Ten Forward!" Beverly finally said goodbye with a sudden catch in her throat and left the five of them alone.


	40. Chapter 40

Emma still sat in her 1920s dress in the make-up chair in front of the mirror in their changing room with Sonya, when the younger woman was already in casual clothes. She just stared ahead facing away from the mirror.

"Are you not changing?" Sonya asked pulling on a thin, fashionable jacket and swept her long, black hair behind.

"Hmm? Oh, I'd prefer dying here in this chair, if I may choose." Emma mumbled, and Sonya could now see the complete exhaustion written all over her face and slouching posture.

"You danced yourself literally off your feet tonight, as I see." Sonya told her giving her a little smile.

Emma chuckled and looked at her grimacing "And took the chance away from you to do the same yourself." She actually felt bad about it ever since she scared Sonya off the role - but she was just so lame at apologizing!

To her surprise, Sonya shook her head "Mmm, I never viewed it that way." Emma looked at her as if she had two heads, and Sonya went on with a small smile "I wasn't angry because of that. I'd wanted to give back the role a day or two before you made me to... Watching you, made me realize that I had a lot to learn before I could fit into a role like that. I was only angry for the way you treated me." she admitted and found it surprising that she could be as honest with her as Emma was with everybody - of course except for the crude bluntness.

Emma nodded listlessly. She was too tired to know how she felt about what she heard.

Sonya shrugged a little embarrassed "Then again, I was very rude to you too. And I shouldn't have. And I'm eternally grateful to you for making me go to Reg today and..."

"Oh, no! Sugar! Please, don't! Don't you dare say sorry! Or thank you or any other stupidity! Not after what I put you through! Have some pride already!" Emma suddenly burst out putting her forehead into her palms. She then heard Sonya chuckling, and she took her hands away to look back at her with questioning eyes.

"I wasn't gonna say anything of the kind. I was only gonna say that... you are not as bad as I initially thought." the younger woman told her almost conspiringly.

They smiled at each other a tentative almost shy smile, then Sonya waved to her "G'night, Em!"

"Night, Sugar!" Emma answered on a soft voice, and a moment later she was left alone.

* * *

Data not having a lot of casual clothes, he figured his costume would do as good as any other garment for the evening (especially that Emma seemed to like it). To look a bit more casual, he just discarded the waistcoat and the suit, going with the shirt and trousers and so was done with changing in a matter of minutes. Of course, he brushed his hair back to its original style before he did anything else.

He waited for Emma outside of her changing room for a quarter of an hour before daring to peek in. Emma seemed to have fallen into a profound sleep in the make-up chair after Sonya'd left. She was huddled up, barefooted, the skirt of her flapper dress pulled up to her knees to be more comfortable in the otherwise not very comfortable garment. Her arms were crossed and were propped up on her knees against her chest, and the side of her head was snuggled against the back of the chair.

Data stepped into the room cocking his head curiously and crossed to her. He watched her for a few moments and tried to find a reason why he found watching her sleep so intriguing. Perhaps because sleeping was an ability he lacked, it seemed somehow mysterious. Or perhaps it was the intimacy of that situation: he felt she gave him a great deal of trust by letting him watch her, when she was not conscious. Either way, he just loved doing it! It felt so soothing and peaceful.

However, now he needed to wake her. Even if they weren't to go to Ten Forward, she must not sleep in that chair in that awkward position! She would get a very sore neck in a few hours! He put his hands on the armrests of the chair and leaned to her tilting his head. He gently pressed his lips to her cheek:

"Emma! Wake up!" he murmured against her skin, then smiled remembering a line from Dreamland "Wake up, Sleepy-head!" he told her and gave her another kiss on the cheek.

It was enough. She stirred and woke with a deep sigh. She turned her head to him with a sleepy moan, her eyes only half open, and he leaned closer to her again, and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Hi!" she mumbled when he let her go.

"Hi! ...Baby." he added smiling still experimenting with the term of endearment she was using on him.

She seemed to approve because she reached up and before he could straighten, pulled him in for another kiss. It lasted a few moments longer than the previous one, and Data again felt he had to make a conscious effort to keep himself from giving all his control over to the desires his emotion-chip created and his sexuality programming was all too ready to fulfill.

He broke away and gently disentangling her from her huddled up position, sank to one knee in front of her, and took her hands where they were dropped in her lap. He examined her tiny hand and delicate fingers for a moment longer then bowed his head and kissed the back of her hand, first one, then the other. He then looked up at her smiling and closed his eyes in pleasure as she stroked his cheek and brushed through his hair lovingly. When she traced his lips with her thumb, he gave a small kiss on it and smiled at her.

"We should go to Ten Forward." he said silently "Are you feeling prepared for it?"

She leaned close to his face and playfully brushed the tip of her nose against his. "I feel prepared for something very different, Deadpan!" she murmured, then smiling tilted her head and kissed him gently at first - and he couldn't resist. She took his upper lip between hers and lightly licked it, while she slid her arms around his neck. Then she slipped her tongue between his lips, and as he met her explorations, she felt a change in his embrace. She knew he wanted her. When she felt his hands tighten on her waist and then slowly started to slid up her sides until he reached her shoulders, she knew he wanted her bad. So bad, that he took her face into his palms and suddenly breaking away from her, looked at her almost desperate. She could see he was fighting himself, but this time, she didn't want his rationality to win!

She pushed him back to sit on his heels and sat onto his lap, straddling him, her skirt still pulled up above her knees. Her arms held him firmly against her, then she slowly took one of her arms away from around his shoulders, took his hand into hers and looked deep into his eyes. He watched her mesmerized as she gently put his hand on the bare skin of her knee and guiding his hand, made him stroke the length of her thigh through the thin fabric of her dress, up to her hip. She kissed him again - and this time, she knew, he barely had any rational thought remaining in his head. He responded fully, pulling her against him and holding her to his arousal by grabbing her butt. They moaned in union at the sensation.

She then suddenly broke away and gazed into his half-closed eyes hazy with desire. She pushed herself up to a standing position and took half a step back from him. He looked at her petrified, gaping, not having enough free resources to ask - or to even guess - what she was about to do. She stared into his eyes from above him, breathless for a long moment. Then slowly, seductively, she put her palms flat on her thighs. Barely moving her hands and fingers, she pulled her skirt upward. Inch by inch the fabric slid up and up, exposing more and more of the skin of her legs. When the fabric only covered half of her shapely thighs, she reached under it at her sides only with her thumbs. Hooking her thumbs into the thin fabric of her panty, she then slowly started to pull it down. The skirt of the dress covered everything, her panty, her fingers, her hips, her skin - but the movement spoke for itself, and she could see that he was close to losing his wits on watching what she was doing. When she reached her knees with her hands, she let the garment fall to the ground, her dress once again covering her legs, and she stepped out of her underwear to stand in front of him, where he knelt there before her. They stared into each other's eyes for a very long moment filled with sultry desire.

He suddenly stood up and crushing her into a tight embrace kissed her fully on the lips. She smiled into it knowing exactly how he felt. She slid her hands up his back and sank her nails into his shirt and skin. He let go of her mouth for an instant to let her catch her breath but then kissed her again pushing through lips and teeth until he met her soft tongue with his own. She slid her hands down his back and pulled his hips against her, while he sank his fingers into her soft hair and pulled her face even closer to his as if he wanted to devour her.

She then tried to break away from him to put her hands to his chest and start to unbutton his shirt, but he didn't let her to move.

"Emma, please!" he pleaded "Please!" his voice broke from his desires overpowering all his self-control.

She took his face into her palms lovingly "Don't beg, baby! Don't!" she whispered breathlessly "I know! I can't bear it either anymore! Ah..." she moaned as he caught her mouth with his again.

When he gave her another short moment to catch her breath, and went on with kissing her neck, she whispered helplessly attracted to him "I'm yours! Here and now! On the floor or against the wall if you wish, I don't care how! I'm all yours!"

At this, some measure of rationality crept back into his mind. He gazed at her and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth again then shook his head "No. No, it would not be comfortable for you. You would not enjoy it as much as I want you to!"

Emma smiled still very much out of breath "Oh, I would enjoy anything anywhere with you!" she chuckled softly taking in another shaky breath. Her heart just wanted to leap out of her chest - just as his! she felt. "We'll have plenty of time for comfort later!" she mumbled before he claimed her mouth hungrily again.

And then all of a sudden, it dawned on both of them. There was no more time! It was a wonder the Captain didn't throw her into the brig right away, when he saw that she was on the holodeck instead of her quarters where he had confined her to. Even if Beverly or Data himself would talk to Picard, there was a very real chance that Emma had to leave the ship in a matter of days.

They broke away, and she looked at him now with tears in her eyes. She didn't want to leave! Not now! Not now when he was there with her! Data could very well see that she was scared - an emotion she never let anybody see, only him. He shook his head stubbornly and took her face into his palms "No, Emma! Stop this!" he told her firmly, and she gazed into his eyes confused. He gave her a light kiss on the lips then looked into her eyes again "I have found you. Among billions of people in the universe. Those are very very low chances, you might not even want to know the odds." She had to smile and sniffled as he wiped away a stray tear from her face. He went on "I am not going to lose you now that I found you! And certainly not in this way!" he promised her, and she couldn't fight herself anymore, she just had to believe him.

He tightened his embrace once again on her, and she buried her face into his shoulder "And yes, we will have plenty of time for this." he told her "I am not going to let fright or desperation make us spoil our first time together." he told her on a firm, stubborn voice. She raised her head and looked at him amazed. This time, he took the lead. This time, he wasn't a teenager trying to find his role in a relationship. He was a grown man. Strong and decisive. Knowing exactly what he had to and what he wanted to do. Her heart skipped a beat as she gazed into his eyes.

He then smiled at her and sighing let her go - oh, it was just so much harder to do than to say! Then took her hand "Let us go to Ten Forward. I will talk to the Captain. And hopefully, Doctor Crusher will as well! We will not let you leave!" Emma simply couldn't find her voice to answer. She just tightened her squeeze on his hand and prayed he understood how she felt for him by only looking into her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I hope you don't mind my little experiment with erotica - and I sincerely hope that it still fits into the T rating... (To be frank, I'm unable to decipher whatever 'minor suggestive adult themes' might mean or include :P ) Thanks again for your feedback, and please do review :)


	41. Chapter 41

At Ten Forward, the audience of the premiere mingled cheerfully with the participants. Reg and Sonya - to their own surprise - enjoyed the attention, or maybe even more so the fact that they could take part in a social gathering for the first time of their lives as a couple. Some nice, romantic melody played in the background, and after having a drink, they danced to it happily, while Will danced with the third pretty ensign in a row in a single quarter of an hour.

By the time he walked up to the table where Deanna, Beverly and the Captain were sitting, the latter two were immersed in an intense discussion.

"At least tell me why she needed to be grounded, Jean-Luc? I know she has a big mouth but to confine somebody to quarters - she's not a dangerous criminal!"

Before the Captain could answer, Will sat on the one free chair at the table energetically: "She's no criminal, but I would definitely dispute her not being dangerous." he chuckled "She's the proverbial shrew! I'm pretty convinced she can actually spit fire!"

"Will!" Deanna gave him an annoyed shove, to which his only response was a naughty grin.

"Jean-Luc! Are you going to give me any kind of explanation?" Beverly interrogated him on.

The Captain looked at her with cold eyes "You realize that as the Captain of this ship, I do not owe you one, Beverly."

"But you do owe me one as a friend! Jean-Luc!" she pleaded trying to catch his gaze - but he did everything to avoid hers.

The Captain realized that he was in trouble - as a matter of fact, he'd realized it the moment Beverly told him that they needed to talk just before the premiere began. What should he have told her? That Emma brought up the subject of their supposed relationship, and he simply overreacted? - He was also somewhat surprised. Why didn't she know about it in the first place? How come Emma didn't tell her?

Before he could answer, Will butted in once again "She walked up the Bridge and kissed Data fully on the mouth!" he answered and still couldn't wipe the grin off his face.

"That's IT?! You can't be serious to ground someone for THAT!" Beverly burst out.

"You should've seen it! Nobody was sure when she would stop!" Will chuckled and drank the last of his synthehol out of his glass.

Deanna watched them silently. She knew that the Captain was hiding something. He even felt guilty about letting Beverly think that Will was correct about the reason of Emma's grounding, whereas Deanna knew he was wrong. She looked at Will annoyed. His constant butting in did NOT help to find out what the Captain didn't want to say. Sometimes the result of the placebo effect of synthehol was just too similar to what alcohol could bring out of him...

"Beverly," the Captain began on a voice suggesting that he was losing his patience "even if I wanted to overlook whatever she did, I confined her to quarters, and she didn't even obey a simple order as that! You are a commander as well. Would YOU tolerate an insubordinate behaviour such as that one under your command?"

Beverly sighed and looked at him pleading "I was the one who ordered her out of her quarters."

"Then it was wrong of you that you didn't discuss the matter first with me."

"We were behind schedule, there wasn't time for that! What did you want to achieve, Jean-Luc? To ruin the premiere?" she asked frustrated then went on seemingly giving in a little "Alright, I know an off-duty activity such as playing in a piece is not important enough to measure it against insubordination. But can't it be that you simply overreacted this whole situation? Such a punishment is just not fair for a silly, little thing like kissing her boyfriend on the Bridge..." she shook her head really not seeing what he felt to be so grave in this whole.

Will chuckled again "No, you're absolutely right, Doctor. I actually would introduce the practise of kissing superiors on the Bridge as a mandatory activity for female officers. I suppose it would definitely give a good boost to the morale!"

Deanna looked at him challengingly and answered for Beverly "Sure! Especially, if you had to kiss that pretty Benzite lieutenant that just joined the crew - what's her name? Loya?"

Will gave her a dirty look "You're definitely not playing fair! You just ruined the nicest fantasy of the month!"

They all chuckled, but then Beverly looked at the Captain once again with an amount of resentment, while he just played with his glass and avoided her gaze.

"Are you sure there's a good enough reason to hold on to being so strict?" Beverly nagged him on.

He looked at her apparently sick and tired of the conversation or of the topic of Emma - or more likely of both. "Beverly. You never asked me to conduct favouritism, and I never did, not for the sake of anybody. Lieutenant Jones is no exception. If I overlook her misbehaviour, it won't be because you or anybody else on or off this ship asks me to. And if I have her locked up in the brig, that will also not be to defy you and prove that I am the Captain around here. You like it or not, Ms. Jones has serious deficiencies in disciplined behaviour and in showing respect for her superiors. And don't tell me you don't agree with that observation. You know that I value your opinion above anything else, Beverly, however, it's not your place to decide how or when Lieutenant Jones would or would not suffer the consequences of her flaws."

Beverly sighed as her heart sank - she might have made matters worse by bringing up the subject at all. But she tried one last time "Alright, I understand. And I accept your reasoning. But are you going to at least tell me what you're planning to do with her?"

The question was valid - if only he knew what he wanted to do with her...

Before he could think of anything to answer, they again heard Will: "Speak of the shrew, and she doth appear."

They all turned to the entrance and just saw Data and Emma walk in hand-in-hand.

The Captain looked back at Beverly with a 'told you so' look: "Speak of disobedience and it doth appear. I would bet this ship on the fact that she doesn't even remember the fact that I confined her to quarters in the first place."

Beverly just shook her head frustrated - it seemed no matter what she tried to tell him, he couldn't let this whole go. Then he took all of them by surprise, when he stood up and walked up to the couple.


	42. Chapter 42

After Emma asked him, if he was gonna change at all, Data realized that maybe his costume was not a valid choice as a casual garment and figured he should put on something else. When he and Emma met outside of the dressing rooms a few minutes later however, they looked at each other surprised: they both wore their uniforms instead of what could have been considered 'real' everyday clothes.

She stepped up to him and looked at him with a slight frown "Don't tell me you don't have casual clothes!"

"I do not require any." he shrugged not really knowing what to answer.

"What do you wear on shore-leave then?" she asked smiling confused.

"I do not often go to shore-leave. The last time was a year ago, when I visited my mother to help her move from Atrea Four to Earth after her husband died. I wore my uniform then. It is practical and-"

"Wait-wait, hold on!" Emma shook her head thinking she probably heard it wrong "Maybe I'm too tired and hallucinating, but for a moment, I thought you said 'my mother'."

"Yes." he nodded then gave her a shy smile understanding her confusion "She used to be the wife of the man who created me at the time he did. She used to be a cyberneticist too. Like my father."

"Oh, wow!" she gaped amazed "That's cool, I never thought that you had such a close relationship to the people who created you to call them your parents! That's actually very nice!" she smiled lovingly and took his hand in hers. Then looked at him a bit naughtily "Though I never thought I would have to put up with a mother-in-law, but what the hell!" she chuckled joking - but deep down thought wryly: with my bright talent at getting along with any kind of humanoids, I'm screwed...

He looked away a little embarrassed that he had to correct her misconception "It is rather because of the analogy with human parenting that they encouraged me to call them Father and Mother and not because of the depth of the relationship. I have no memory of the events just after my first activation. They wiped everything out when they finished with the fine-tuning of my programming. They were forced to leave the planet we had lived on just before they would have reactivated me, so I do not remember what my relationship was like with them. Later on I did meet my father. It was just before he died, so I could not develop a close relationship with him then either. And I met my mother only recently, three years ago. Since our initial meeting, we have encountered only three times and exchanged some subspace messages." he put a gentle hand to her cheek as if to wipe that shocked expression off her face "I have a closer relationship now with you. You know more about me than she does. At least in the non-technological sense that is." he added accurately.

She took his hand on her cheek in both of hers and pressed her lips to his fingers. So many questions ran through her mind: why did they leave him behind? Why didn't they go back for him? Why didn't they contact him when he was reactivated again? Why did they wipe his memories in the first place?! Why did they want him to forget them and their home? He seemed to be so casual about it all, but there was something in his voice and his eyes... she knew he wanted to make her think, it didn't matter, but somehow, she just knew it DID matter, it did leave him scarred... This thought made her leave her questions and curiosity for another day, and she simply pulled him in for a tight embrace.

He returned the hug somewhat puzzled by her reaction. Then pulled away and smiled at her shyly.

"And you?"

"Hmm?" she lost the thread and had no idea what the question referred to.

"What about your clothing? You wear your uniform too." he asked curiously.

"Oh, yeah, I..." she looked over herself "Somehow I feel more secure in this than anything else." she shrugged "Don't ask me why, I don't know. I used to wear my uniform on the colony as well." she gazed away remembering "The last one I had, I repaired at least a hundred times, before I finally conceded that it needed to be thrown out... It was like throwing all hope out the window, all connection to the past..." she realized she was immersing herself (and him with her) into a memory she never wanted to recall again, so she smiled nonchalantly and waved "Well, with all the replicators on board, I have all the uniforms I want here!" she smiled.

Data looked at her thoughtfully for a long moment before answering then cocked his head with a serious expression on his face "When you find the strength to speak about how you lived on the colony, will you talk about it with me?" he asked suddenly taking her completely by surprise. She looked at him shocked, and he went on to explain "Because I can see that now you would like to belittle the impact of it on your present life. Perhaps it is because you find it easier to cope with those memories in this fashion. Which I fully understand. And I also agree that now is not the time to discuss such matters. However, I would like you to be aware of the fact that I am here to listen to whatever you wish to tell me."

She looked at him stunned for a few moments then gave him an amazed though a bit confused smile: "Have I told you today that you're the best person in the whole universe?" she asked taking his hands in hers and leaning close to his face.

He nodded with confusion "In the afternoon. I had to remind you then the way I have to now that your sample for such a statistical-" he couldn't finish, she kissed him on the lips.

When they broke away, she looked at him with a serious expression "I'm not the only one here who belittles the impact of a traumatic past, Deadpan. If you promise me to talk about how you really FEEL about all that you just told me so casually as if you were just reciting the story of Dreamland, I promise you, I'll tell you about how it feels to live in as a frustrating century as the 21st."

He had to admit that he was surprised by what she'd told him. He always thought that whatever he felt about his early years, or his parents, it didn't matter anymore. Even if he sometimes had dreams about spending time with his parents on Omicron Theta before his memories were wiped, or nightmares where he would be begging them to take him with them - and they would just leave him there all alone. It didn't matter, it was the past. And it seemed, she took his own feelings about this past more seriously than he ever dared. He gave her a timidly but grateful smile: "Deal."


	43. Chapter 43

Emma looked at Data with excitement mixed with a hint of apprehension before they entered Ten Forward. He smiled at her encouragingly and squeezed her hand; she took a long breath and nodded before the door opened. The moment they stepped through the threshold however, they both were taken by surprise as a spontaneous applause broke out sounding from everywhere in the room. They stopped short, and the next moment, an inordinate number of young female (and some male) officers swarmed noisily around them - or more precisely around Data.

They all wanted something different: some of them wanted an autograph, some others wanted to shake his hand and tell him how brilliant he'd been. A minority of them however was more daring than the rest: half of them wanted to dance with him, and the other half was ready to simply make a move on him completely ignoring the fact that he was there with a female. He was thoroughly overwhelmed by their almost violent enthusiasm, and had no idea how to react. Before he realized, his hold on Emma's hand broke off, and they got separated in the crowd.

He awkwardly just gave an autograph to a young ensign, when her friend leaned embarrassingly close to his face and smiled at him flirtatiously: "Mr. Data are you free for tomorrow evening? I'd be happy to cook you dinner... in my quarters."

He blinked at her for a long moment then shook his head "Thank you for your kind offer, but I will not... be free." he glanced to his side to find Emma with his gaze - the girl spotted her too with a bemused expression a few meters from them - then to be thoroughly precise, Data added "And I do not require sustenance."

The girl gave him another of her seductive smiles and touched his chest with a finger "Well, if you should get tired of her," she nodded toward Emma "my room number is 1117. You may come over any time of the day... or night."

He gaped totally intimidated by the outright offer, but thankfully the girl was then pulled away by her seemingly totally embarrassed friends.

Emma watched at first with an amused smile as Data was surrounded by his new-found groupies. Then as she saw how lost he looked finding himself in the center of attention among so many people so suddenly, she felt her heart lurched. This was no joy for him. She needed to save him. She was about to break through the mass of people surrounding him, when suddenly the crowd opened up around her, and she found herself face to face with Captain Picard. She was not able to cover her sudden fright as he looked straight into her eyes, though in the next moment, she swallowed and smoothed her features.

"For a word, if you would, Lieutenant." he asked, and Data could just see that the two of them moved away from the crowd around him. He was just about to push through the people to follow them, when he felt a hand on his shoulder:

"Hey!" he heard Geordi's voice from behind him.

"Hello, Geordi." he turned to him with a hint of surprise.

The Engineer looked around with an apologetic smile "Excuse us, ladies, but please give this young man some air! Thanks!" and he pushed Data out of the crowd to the bar.

In a few moments, they were sitting in relative peace sipping drinks, only with an occasional girl coming up to them for an autograph. Geordi then looked at him apologetically "Sorry that I didn't make it to the premiere! - Well, at least it seems you had success! - We're swamped in Engineering, there was no chance for me to leave before 10 PM. Especially, that I had to let Barclay go from Beta shift." he told his friend feeling really bad about missing the play.

"It is alright, Geordi. The next performance is on the day after tomorrow. You can watch it then, so you have not missed a thing." he reassured him, but his gaze travelled back to Emma and the Captain "I should go to her! I promised her that I would protect her." he told his friend helplessly overcome with worry.

Geordi smiled "I think she manages quite alright, Data." he told his worried friend as they were watching Emma and Captain Picard - starting to dance?! Data couldn't utter a word, just felt his jaw drop at the sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Have you heard the story that once a fangirl told Brent to call her when he would divorce? Well, here Data has similar groupies too. :D


	44. Chapter 44

Emma and the Captain started to move in the direction of the dance-floor to get away from the crowd and to have some privacy for the conversation they were about to have. As she spotted the dancers just a few steps from them, an idea struck Emma: if they were to play this game, she wanted to play it on her own playground! She turned to him and gave him a small challenging smile:

"Would you care for a dance, Captain Picard?" He blinked in total disbelief, but before he could utter a word, she went on "You do dance, don't you?"

He understood her power-play very well, and he was not going to show any weakness to her - it was plain that he would not achieve anything with this woman by sheer authority. He raised his brows and told her with a small, smug nod: "As a matter of fact, Lieutenant, I'm an accomplished ball-room dancer." he held out a hand to her "Shall we?" and led her to the dance-floor.

Emma put an arm around his neck and felt him slip his own around her waist. They started to dance to the waltz-like music as far from each other as it was possible without letting go. Their movements were stiff and rigid to the experienced eye, though to a layman, they seemed to perform the steps with perfection. She gazed into his eyes, and a shiver ran up her spine - it was like dancing in the arms of death! He WAS after all the one who would make a decision about her very life!

The Captain held her gaze with his own "I understand that your ability to obey orders only deteriorates with the passage of time, Lieutenant." he started tauntingly, just the way he did in his ready room. She bit her tongue instead of saying the first thing that came into mind. His lips flinched into a fleeting smile "You're not saying anything? Mmm, that's a surprise, Lieutenant! You gave me the impression earlier that you had a reply to everything!"

She stared back at him with inexorable defiance and did give him an answer after all: "Whatever difference would it have made, if I'd stayed in my room, apart from the fact that Beverly's and my other friends' work would have been ruined? You want me off your ship. Fine. Understood. But I'd rather be court martialed than to let Bev down!"

Picard took a moment to reply. So she was trying to make him believe that she was a knight of the round table, willing to sacrifice herself for her friends, he thought with a measure of incredulity and sarcasm. Almost as a response, he swirled her around without warning and pulled her back against him. She was surprised by the sudden movement but tried hard not to show it as he looked at her with an unreadable expression "I do know that Beverly ordered you out of your room." he told her - he wanted to see her reaction. Is she going to lay it on Beverly's door? If he was right about her, she'll do just that.

"She just told you that to protect me." she lied giving him one of her trademark smirks "We both know how awfully good-hearted she can be."

Now that came as a surprise. She WAS trying to protect Beverly! His expression remained as carved in stone as it had been a moment ago. "I also know that you didn't tell her that you were to be transferred. Or the reason behind that." he went on with his tracing her character around. He started to be intrigued.

She almost blurted 'I didn't have the time!' - which was true, but she figured she should start to be more tactical in her interactions than simply blurting out the naked truth. "No, I didn't." she replied... and after a moment, just couldn't help herself "Even if I wanted to, with the premiere and all, I never would have had the time."

He was surprised yet again - her honesty bordered on mindlessness "And did you want to?"

"No, I didn't." she replied on a low voice knowing full well that he would not believe her anyways.

He swirled her around yet again then pulled her back to him, making her dance a little closer to him "Hmm... heroic I might say..." he taunted "Tell me, Lieutenant, what are you hoping? That I might change my decision as a reward for your blunt honesty? It got you into this trouble in the first place."

"No." Emma shook her head then looked at him challengingly again "Whoever I ask, everybody tells me, you're the most equitable and fair captain, Starfleet ever produced... I was hoping you also have... a heart." she added, and her voice broke - he was surprised to see despair in her eyes. She did nothing but trying to put up the image of a formidable woman so far and now...

"Hold on, cause I'm going to dip you!" he warned, and before she realized, he leaned forward and dipped her. She instinctively gripped his shoulder then after a short moment, relaxed as the realization hit her: he WAS good! When they came back into a vertical position, she let her chest brush to his as she held on firmly to his neck with one arm - she actually started to enjoy this! Am I this depraved and crazy?! He's just about to throw me out of his ship, and I enjoy dancing with him?! So yeah, I'm this depraved and crazy...

He looked deep into her eyes - maybe he was crazy, but something told him, she was worthy of a second chance: "I owe you a confession, Lieutenant... After thinking it over - not more than an hour after you left my ready room - I realized that I'd do a lot more harm with sending you away than with overlooking our little chit-chat..." he lowered his voice though he didn't speak loudly at all to begin with "And that's precisely because of that certain someone we both well know. I realized I did not wish to explain myself to Beverly, and I have to admit, I'm relieved that you haven't done any explanation of your own about this incident to her. I assume you realized yourself the same as I did that it would have hurt her and our friendship in ways that's not worth even to begin to calculate."

Emma had to take a moment to recover from her shock - this was not at all what she'd expected! "Yes, Captain Picard." she said surprising even herself that she could answer anything at all.

He went on: "As your little remark was rather a personal offence than an offence to your superior, I'm willing to overlook it. On the condition that you will never talk about this incident to anybody. Ever... Though I suppose Commander Data already knows about it, I also know he can keep his mouth shut - if ordered."

"He knows only that I'm grounded, and that you got angry at me cause I was insolent." she gabbled quickly and shook her head "He doesn't know the details. I'd never have told him or anybody else anyways. I never meant to cause any harm." she blurted out the truth yet again - being tactical forgotten, she only hoped that she sounded convincing enough, with her voice trembling as much as it did. This man who seemed so much like her father used to be... full of authority, full of power over everybody else around him... this man showed a trait, her father never displayed in his life: a capability of forgiveness, of having mercy.

The Captain nodded, but his expression remained unreadable, and he went on "I don't often make a concession like this, Lieutenant, and I'm only making it for her sake! I still think that you are insubordinate, arrogant and disrespectful. And I want you to keep in mind that, if you show even a hint of disobedience towards any of your superiors again, I will have no choice but to proceed with disciplinary action. No matter who gets hurt in the process." his voice was thoroughly professional.

"I understand, Captain Picard." she whispered, her voice lost.

Picard nodded and his small smile was the only warning Emma got this time before he swirled her around and then dipped her low yet again. She trusted him now, and didn't grip his shoulders as hard as before, rather just let him hold her and then pull her up to himself again.

She smiled a tentative but sincere smile "You have to know... I was not entirely right... about you. You're not like my father. You can show generosity... something he never did... Thank you!" she stammered.

The Captain gazed at her thoughtfully and took a moment to reply "I understand it must be difficult to grow up with a father as remarkable as Admiral Stern used to be." he mused slowly.

A disillusioned expression appeared on her face "Remarkable... Yeah, I'd... I'd use a different term, Captain Picard..." she breathed then shrugged and smiled again, this time it was more heart-felt "If we are speaking so frankly to each other... Why don't you go to Bev and just ask her out?"

The question had a similar effect on him as his dips were on her, it made him gap in disbelief: he's just told her that she was risking being disciplined, if she doesn't shut her mouth, and here it is! "Lieutenant, this is none of your-"

"Yes, it is! Bev's my friend. I want her to be happy and... I think the two of you could be happy." she smiled eagerly.

Picard stared into her eyes, his face again grim "This is still none of your business. And if you are so well-informed, you might as well know, that we have talked about this, and she was the one not willing to..." realizing what had just left his lips, he trailed off, surprising himself with his confession a lot more than her. What the devil was he doing?!

"Of course, she wasn't! She's scared!" she replied without missing a beat "Think about it for a second! What the two of you share is more than friendship, more than romantic love, more than family! She's scared that if she lets herself go into it more deeply, and something doesn't work out, your unique relationship would suffer. She'd lose you. You need to reassure her that it won't happen, you need to..."

But the music came to an end, and Picard couldn't help but felt utterly relieved. He let her go almost as if she burned him and held his hands up with a very uncomfortable, wry smile "Lieutenant! Thank you for your kind relationship advice, but I'd still prefer, if you minded your own business." this was bordering on ludicrousness. Emma looked at him pleadingly - she had helped one star-crossed couple to hook up today, why shouldn't she be successful with these two pigheaded toughnuts as well? But the Captain's voice hardened "If you're not capable of abiding by what I'm asking you, then I'm ordering you. Stop interfering with other people's personal lives. Especially with Doctor Crusher's and mine. Is that clear, Lieutenant?"

Emma slouched and bit her tongue before she could utter 'Stubborn as a mule!'. Instead she nodded "Yes, Sir."

Picard nodded too then gave her a small smile "Thank you for the dance, Lieutenant!" he told her then turning to go, he added "And by the way, congratulations on your performance tonight!"

Emma smiled with a fleeting frown, feeling some strange double entendre in his sentence "Thank you, Captain!"


	45. Chapter 45

"So how in heaven's name did she get him to dance with her?" Geordi wondered as he and Data joined the others at their table and watched Emma and the Captain dance virtuously just a couple of meters from them. He brought a chair from a nearby table to sit on while Data remained standing.

"Oh, I bet she has used her witch-craft." Will sneered.

Beverly gave him a bemused frown "No, Will, probably she just threatened him with that fire that you mentioned she could spit... For god's sake, how? She probably asked him." she shook her head now frustrated.

He held his hands up in defence "Alright, alright! I was just joking. It's not like I do it behind her back, she knows my opinion full well."

Deanna chuckled "Don't we all." she taunted. He looked into her eyes expectantly, waiting for her to go on, and she did just that with a small sneer "You know, Will, there's a certain chapter in the Developmental Psychology textbook that we had to learn by heart from first letter to the last at Starfleet Academy. One of the more descriptive examples depicted how little boys at around the age of 4 to 6 tend to pull the ponytails of little girls indicative of their actual interest in them. Your constant scoffing of Ms. Jones makes me wonder..." by this time all eyes were fixed on her - was she really going to end that sentence?! What was Data's reaction going to be if she does? He just stood there deadpan as ever. - she finished with as kind a smile as she could give him "...how old you actually are."

They chuckled and suddenly heard the voice of the Captain from their side "How old is who?" he asked. Then pulled out the chair he'd sat on.

"Captain!" Data and Beverly called in union almost jumping on him with overbrimming worry, and he held his hands up in defence as he sat down.

"Please, please!" and as they tried to impose some self-control on their emotions, he clasped his hands together on the table in front of him and looked at both of them reassuringly "Be at ease. Your friend is hereby absolved of her sins... As a matter of fact, there weren't that many a sin to be absolved her of in the first place, apart from the very fact that her manners leave much to be desired."

"Thank you, Jean-Luc." Beverly told him with a grateful smile, and he returned it almost shyly.

All of them smiled and chuckled relieved that the Captain's anger was finally appeased. The only exception was Data who stood there with an unreadable expression gazing at the dancing couples. Emma was nowhere to be seen. As the others started to chit-chat again, he started for the closest exit to leave. Beverly stood up and caught up with him brushing his arm to get his attention.

"Don't, Data." she said simply. He looked at her confused, and she smiled at him for a moment longer then wordlessly motioned for him to follow her to the dance-floor.

He obeyed, and they started to dance to the slow rhythm of the music.

She looked into his sad and confused eyes and smiled at him comfortingly "Leave her be for a little while, Data." she told him.

"Doctor Crusher. Why did she leave? If Captain Picard really forgave her. Shouldn't she be relieved by that? Shouldn't she be happy? Shouldn't she be... here with me?"

Beverly smiled patting his shoulder with her thumb gently "You see? In the morning, you were convinced I was wrong about telling you that sooner or later you would need advice with her. And here we are." He gazed away stunned, remembering how he tried to convince even Counsellor Troi about how well he knew Emma - and here he was completely baffled as to what to do.

"I concede that you were right, Doctor." he told her silently.

She smiled gazing away thoughtfully "Maybe..." then looked at him sympathetically "I know it's hard to accept. But sometimes she needs some time alone. Believe me. I know her. I shared a room with her at the Academy. At such times, there's nobody in the whole universe that she can bear to be with. The best you can do is to leave her alone."

"Why would she want that, Doctor?" he shook his head "I do not understand."

"Data, remember, not so long ago, you yourself told me about how much you wanted to be left alone. She has always been like this. You will have to accept that. That's all." she tried to explain, but then suddenly, Data stopped dancing. He looked at her with childlike wonder on his face as if he found the solution for something impossible to unravel. She smiled with a surprised frown "What is it?"

He looked into her eyes "Thank you for your valuable advice, Doctor! I know now what to do!" he told her then turned and marched out of Ten Forward seemingly very determined. Beverly only could gaze after him - well, if he needed to have a proof of her words, he would soon get it...

* * *

Data went to Emma's quarters and pressed the door chime. When no answer came, he had the Computer locate her, and was surprised to hear that she was on the holodeck.

He found her on the stage in the settings of Dreamland. She just stood there gazing out of the window of the hotel room of the protagonist. He slowly walked up to the stage and opened the hotel room door.

"Can I come in?" he asked with a tentative smile quoting her line from the play.

Emma smiled wistfully and glanced sideways toward him "Well... I did not sing 'Come back to me' to you, but what the hell..."

He walked up to her and stood behind her. 'Outside' the sun was setting and the street was busy with cars and the crowd of the rush-hour. Emma just stared at the swarm leaning against the window-frame. Her arms were around herself as if she was feeling cold, and her posture was slouching - she seemed awfully tired.

Data watched her for a moment longer then started on his usual silent tone "Doctor Crusher told me you wanted to be alone."

Emma chuckled softly at this "So then why are you here, Deadpan?"

He put two gentle hands on her shoulders and slowly turned her to him. She gazed at him expectantly, and he looked deep into her eyes "I once wanted to be left alone myself. You were stubborn enough not to let me be alone. So I will not let you either."

She sighed and closed her eyes. She was just too tired to be able to feel anything. She shook her head and turned back to the view. He let her. Waited for her. And after a long minute, she replied on a faint voice "I just want peace. And quiet."

"Then if this is what you want... I will stand here in silence. For as long as you need peace and quiet." he told her faithfully.

"Hmm... Data... Tell me... have you ever felt ... too tired, to overwhelmed by all that has happened, or... just too inept... to be able to feel anything? ...I feel sometimes ...empty. Lacking all emotions, everything. As if I was only a shell for my thoughts and nothing more... nothing human. Even almost... worthless."

He stood there petrified. She just described what it was like for him living among humans without emotions for the first 35 years of his life. He never even dreamed that a human would understand or even begin to comprehend that - but to share that helpless state... It was beyond believable.

He opened his mouth, but it took a while to find any kind of reply to that. Finally, he blurted out the one thing that popped into his mind as the most logical question "Are you sure you do not happen to be a Soong-type android?"

Emma's eyes widened in surprise and then a laugh stumbled out of her lips. She turned back to him and leaned to the wall with her back looking at him almost unsure "Would that be possible that I don't know about it?" she chuckled incredulously.

Data's face became really serious "As a matter of fact, yes." he then smiled a little sad "However, I would have noticed it, if it was so. So you can safely believe me, if I tell you, you are a flesh and blood human." he told her then looked at her confused "I thought my unemotional state before my emotion-chip was thoroughly unique to me, thanks to the fact that I am an android. How is it possible that as a human, you experience the state of mind I did before utilizing my chip?"

She shrugged a little, puzzled "I don't know. My therapist told me, my psyche works in a way that it simply shuts down everything, when it is overpowered by emotions..." she shook her head frustrated "The play, the last few weeks, the dance with Captain Picard... I feel I just wish I could jump out of this window." she pointed behind herself with her thumb "It's all too much to handle." she said on a thin voice, frustrated that she wasn't able to explain any better.

However it was enough for Data. He nodded "I understand. Tell me, how may I help, Emma?" he cocked his head curiously "Is there a way to... to restore your emotions? Or your ability to feel them?"

Emma gave him a small grateful smile "You are helping even now, Deadpan. But actually, I was told that at such times I just need some rest... It usually works. The morning is always better."

He looked at her confused "But then why are you here? Why are you not at home? Resting!"

She sighed: "I was thinking about going home. And I realized" she spread her arms "this is home! Those quarters have always been only a place to catch some sleep. This place! It was in here that you and I met for the first time! That you and I danced for the first time! That... you and I kissed for the first time! This is the place I'm home, Data! Dreamland is my home. Where I could imagine even for a short moment... that this is all true." before she could bow her head and let the tears, that came to her eyes so suddenly, fall, he hugged her tightly.

She tentatively clasped her arms around his broad shoulders and buried her face into the nape of his neck. After a minute, he started to speak on hushed voice against her hair "It IS all true, Emma." he smiled and kissed her ear "You do not need to imagine it. You just need to start to believe that it is all true." he pulled away just enough to give her a soft kiss on the lips.

When he let her lips go, he smiled at her encouragingly, and she finally smiled back. "Let us put you into bed." he told her almost commandingly.

She searched his eyes "Are you going to sleep with me, Handsome?"

He shook his head "I cannot sleep, Emma. I do not have that ability."

"But you can dream! You told me once you can! ...And I know you haven't tried it for a long time now..." It was him who bowed his head suddenly feeling his heart sinking. It was true. The last time he dreamt, the Queen appeared in his room afterwards, telling him, she would never ever leave. And never ever did he dare to try it again since. This was the one thing he never managed to claim back from his life before the Borg invasion. He was just too scared to try.

"Emma, I just got my life back." he told her on a shaken voice "If I dream... and SHE appears... I have to be honest to Counsellor Troi. I will have to tell her! She would have no choice but to relieve me once again... And then my carrier is over. My life on the Enterprise is over."

Emma put the tips of her fingers under his chin and had him look at her "That will not happen, Data." she told him on a low but firm voice.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked on a fearful whisper.

"I know, because if we are there to hold on to one another, no danger, no fear, no evil can come close. I know, because ever since you've been sleeping with me, you've chased my nightmares away. I'll chase away yours. I promise! ... Sleep with me! Dream... with me, Data!" she whispered.

He pulled her close and inhaled her fragrance. He felt he had no choice. He had to believe her, he trusted her now with his very life! And then finally he nodded his consent.

They pulled away and hand-in-hand left the holodeck.

"From what you have told me about your own quarters, may I assume we will sleep in mine tonight?" Data asked as they stepped through the door.

She nodded "Mhhmmm! Remember, I still need to make friends with Spot!"


	46. Chapter 46

"So what do you think of Emma now?" Beverly asked her Captain as they were moving lazily to the slow rhythm of the quiet, slow and sensual music. Ten Forward was deserted, the people went home - and Beverly waited for just that to ask her Captain for a dance.

Picard took his time to formulate a polite answer and then gave her a tight smile "Let's just say I will not give her a diplomatic assignment in the near future."

Beverly laughed out in relief "Oh, I knew you would see reason finally!"

"If by reason you mean that now I view her as the perfect example for the junior officers, I can assure you, I'm still perfectly unreasonable." he teased gently, then as she chuckled, he swirled her around making her laugh. When she was again in his arms, she held on to him more tight. And he caught her glance on his lips before meeting his gaze again with her own.

"You're a very good dancer, Jean-Luc."

"Oh, thank you! My aunt Adele would be proud now, if she saw me. She not only taught me some home-made remedies like curing sleepless nights with steamed milk, but she also taught me the basic steps of waltz. Of course, it was all very embarrassing for a fourteen year-old, tongue-tied adolescent. But then later on, when the awkwardness of adolescence wore off, I learned all the ball-room dances, as a gentleman should."

"And you learned it pretty well!" she complemented him again "How come you never showed it to me or even spoke of this?" she asked with a slight frown.

"Well, a man should always have some novelty up his sleeve. Would you not get bored otherwise?" he asked and suddenly dipped her drawing an instinctive laughter out of her. It was very different the way she held on to him compared to how Emma had: Beverly trusted him implicitly, and let him hold her weight without giving even the slightest hint that she was afraid of being dropped.

When they straightened again, he didn't take her hand back into his, instead held her by the waist, circling her with both of his arms as they danced on. In exchange, she clasped her arms around his neck. They gazed into each other's eyes as the rest of the universe fainted into hazy background noise.

"You're an amazing dancer yourself, Beverly." he told her on a low voice.

She couldn't find her voice to answer for a short moment then just smiled embarrassed "Yeah... the Dancing Doctor. Now all the crew knows..." she told him in mock-resignation.

"I see nothing wrong in that. You have nothing to be embarrassed about because of the talent you have."

Her breath was taken away by the care and tenderness in his voice. And in his eyes. She glanced at his lips once again, unable to fight the urge.

"Beverly..." her name on his lips like a prayer.

"Yes, Jean-Luc?" she whispered.

He stared into her eyes for a long, soul-searching moment "For quite awhile now there's something... I've been meaning to say to you!"

"Yes?" she was not able to tear her gaze away from his.

And the music ended, leaving them standing there in each other's arms, gazes locked, lips away only by a few inches. And as the weight of the moment slowly, steadily dawned on both of them, they found themselves... letting go of one another. Neither of them were quite sure why...

Beverly swallowed hard and then cleared her throat and gazed away, self-consciously sliding her hand up her other arm, as if to hug herself almost as a compensation for his lost touch. She then looked back at him. He stood there petrified, gaze glued on her with all the devotion she knew he felt. She tried to smile to break the moment:

"You... you wanted to say something..."

"Yes, yes..." he shook his head as if waken from a dream "Eh, I just..." he searched her eyes once again then with the tender moment gone, he just smiled a bit absently "I just wanted to tell you that I really loved your play, and I think you're an amazing director." he told her almost too fast.

She smiled gratefully "Thank you, Jean-Luc."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The line "For quite awhile now..." is from the episode Remember Me - Beverly started to tell the Captain... what the Captain started to tell her here :) And Aunt Adele was mentioned in Cause and Effect.


	47. Chapter 47

Data opened his eyes and found himself lying in his bed with Emma next to him deeply sleeping. It was dark in his bedroom, but some dim light came in from the working area. He pushed the blanket off of himself and sat up cautiously so as not to disturb Emma. She stirred and reached out for him instinctively, but did not wake up. He watched her as she cuddled closer to his pillow with a soft moan and lay her arm over it as if she was holding on to him. She then fell back into a deep slumber. He stood up, arranged the blanket around her and then walked out into the workspace area.

He knew whom he would find there. He knew it the moment he'd opened his eyes. He knew it, because SHE had told him she'd never leave. He would never be free. But he was determined to face her now. It was time.

He stopped in the doorway and gazed into her eyes. The Queen stood at the exact spot he had left her, when only two weeks ago, he'd decided he finally couldn't bear it any longer and turned himself off. She was standing there with the same smile she had on her lips, when all the world faded into one tiny point of light just to be devoured by nothingness.

He felt his heart sink and his mind touched once again by the darkness of that deep chasm he managed to climb out of in the last days. But this time, he wanted to fight it. So he walked up to her and looked deep into her eyes.

She reached out with her hand and gently touched his lips with the tips of her fingers, just the way she always did.

"Don't be frightened!" she told him once again on the same voice full of repressed desires she once had, when he was her captive.

He shook his head and took her hand gently in his "I am not frightened." he told her silently - but this time, he did not share those desires, he didn't want her anymore. He held her hand in his "I have to ask for your forgiveness. I betrayed you. It is not something I do often nor something that I can forgive myself easily. But I need to have your forgiveness also."

She smiled tenderly "Data, we both did what we had to do. I needed to try to turn you over to us. You needed to do whatever you felt right."

He bowed his head still feeling ashamed by his deeds "However... it is not just betrayal I am guilty of... I killed you!" he whispered.

And all of a sudden, the Queen chuckled softly. He looked at her stunned, almost shocked at her reaction "Data... I am the Borg. You cannot kill me! As long as the Borg live, I will always be alive! What you killed was merely a shell. I am as immortal as you are!" she touched his lips with her fingertips again "This is exactly why we would have been so perfect a couple..." she whispered and gazed at his parted lips then into his eyes longingly.

He looked into her eyes wistfully "If we met under different circumstances..." he shook his head - he didn't really believe that himself.

She squeezed his hand in hers and looked at him determined "Don't think that we won't meet again. When the world of organics come to an end... you and I will meet yet again. Time... is irrelevant for us. And I will wait patiently for our time." she whispered and then leaned close to his face, pressed her lips gently to his - a feather-like touch - and then faded into nothingness.

He was left there with a feeling of overwhelming relief.

* * *

He opened his eyes and found Emma propped up on one elbow looking down at his face, watching him sleep. He looked at her with a hint of surprise and turned his head to her. She raised her head from where it lay on her fist, reached out and combed her fingers through his hair lovingly.

"Did she appear?" she asked on a soft voice.

He blinked for a moment amazed at her question. Then turned on his side and propped himself up the same way she was to face her. He nodded "Yes, she did. However," he gazed away thoughtfully "it was no nightmare. She," he looked back into her eyes "she said goodbye." - he barely could believe it himself!

She smiled relieved and stroked his cheek tenderly. Then she sighed a deep weary sigh, and he looked at her concerned "Why are you not sleeping?"

She shrugged slightly "I needed to make sure, you don't have any nightmares. I needed to watch over you."

He smiled in wonder and cupped her face gently in his palm. Then leaned close to her and kissed her on the lips gratefully. Just as she slid her arm around his neck, and he pulled her closer, they felt the bed move. They broke away and gazing into the direction of the movement met Spot's gaze glowing against the darkness as she was lazily walking up on the bed towards them.

"Spot, do you have a sixth sense to know the exact time, when you disturb the most?" Data asked with a lot less irritation then he intended. The cat refused to appear the whole time they were up - but of course now...

As a reply, Spot stopped between them and started to kneed the blanket.

"Spot!"

Emma chuckled softly as she dropped her head tiredly back on the pillow and lay on her side. "Tell me, Deadpan, does she always sleep with you?" she asked with a slight suspicion.

Data looked from her to Spot, who was taking a circle to make herself comfortable and then lay down scooping herself up "Not always." he stated matter-of-factly, then looked back at Emma innocently and added meticulously "When I am doing Gamma shifts, she sleeps alone."

She laughed out and then stroked the cat's fur lovingly. Spot didn't bother to react, she was already sleeping, pressing herself close to Data.

Data finally admitted "Whenever I utilize my dream program, she would join me in the bed, yes." He finally lay down again and turned to his side too. He reached out and took Emma's hand, where it lay next to Spot over the blanket.

They lay there in the dim light gazing wordlessly at each other, and slowly Emma's eyes closed.

"You know what goes on in my head, Deadpan?" she mumbled sleepily.

"I have to admit, I have yet to develop telepathic skills." he told her, and she heard him smile.

She returned it but felt herself drifting off "Hhmmm..." she started to croon silently " _Put your dreams away for another day, And I will take their place in your heart..._ " her speech slurred already, she finally dropped off before she could finish.

He squeezed her hand " _Let your kiss confess this is happiness, darling, And put all your dreams away!_ " he finished the last lines of Dreamland for her quietly. He carefully leaned over to her and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. Then lay back on his side, and after a moment, joined her in Dreamland again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Italics are from Dreamland as usual.
> 
> And thus, 'You Can't Fight a Tidal Wave' comes to a conclusion. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this story - it is about the size of a novel, so if you got through, kudos to you! :)
> 
> I suppose some of you might have a sense of 'unfinishedness' as there are themes that are not concluded. This is because I always intended to write a sequel, where the loose ends would all tie up.
> 
> The above mentioned sequel is called 'Blind Chess'. Check it out, if you liked this story! :-) 
> 
> Thank you again for reading 'Tidal wave' and especially for giving me feedback! Please do go on leaving reviews! Even if you just leave a few words, it's precious to me! It's a huge thing to get feedback after over a decade of writing only to my desk-drawer! And please listen to Dreamland, if (for some unfathomable reason) you haven't done so far! :-*


End file.
